Off the coast of Virginia, Dominion Power is constructing what would be the largest offshore wind facility within the U.S., a 2.6-gigawatt challenge that may present power to as many as 660,000 houses. It has been beneath development since 2023 and is predicted to be accomplished by 2026—however President Donald Trump’s tariffs are including to the challenge’s prices.
Already, by way of the primary quarter of 2025, Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind challenge has incurred tariff prices of $4 million, CEO Bob Blue stated on a latest earnings name. That enhance got here from Trump’s 25% tariffs on metal, which the president introduced in early February and which went into effect March 12.
If the tariffs proceed by way of the second quarter, the corporate expects that quantity to extend to $120 million. In the event that they proceed by way of to the top of 2026, it may hit $500 million. (That features the metal tariffs, in addition to normal tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, and the European Union. It’s value noting that tariffs on metal imports additionally drive up home costs.)
Dominion plans to bear a few of these price will increase itself; of that projected $500 million enhance, for instance, Dominion will cowl about $130 million. It additionally famous that the up to date prices may enhance residential buyer payments by a mean of 4 cents a month over the lifetime of the challenge. The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind challenge “stays one of the vital reasonably priced sources of power for our clients,” Blue famous.
Earlier than the earnings name, Dominion Power already introduced that the offshore wind challenge’s prices had elevated, in contrast with preliminary estimates; initially, it was set to price $9.8 billion, however in February 2025, Dominion bumped that estimate to $10.7 billion. That was the primary funds enhance since Dominion submitted the challenge to Virginia regulators again in November 2021, and Dominion stated it was due to greater community improve prices assigned by the native grid operator, PJM.
On the time of that announcement, Dominion famous that the challenge was 50% full and on monitor to be completed by the top of 2026.
Trump’s tariffs have led to all kinds of value will increase and uncertainty in regards to the future. Tariffs on car and car part imports are anticipated to raise vehicle prices; tariffs on metal and aluminum may make all the pieces from development supplies to home equipment to canned meals dearer. Trump’s commerce battle may also broadly impact renewable energy as a result of most of the elements for photo voltaic and wind tasks come from overseas, notably China and Southeast Asia.
Trump has additionally taken steps to kill the wind industry generally, and has halted some offshore wind tasks, like Empire Wind off the coast of Long Island, which was set to be accomplished by 2027 if the work continued on schedule.
Dominion says that it’s assured its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind challenge will get carried out, regardless of Trump’s hatred of wind power and his latest actions to hamper clear power tasks. The corporate’s conversations with federal regulators “have continued the identical means they’ve been for months,” Blue stated throughout the earnings name.
A pause on the challenge, he added, wouldn’t make sense: “It’s the quickest approach to get 2.6 gigawatts on the grid to serve tech corporations, protection, and safety installations, and necessary American industries like shipbuilding. It’s using 2,000 individuals. . . . It has bipartisan assist in Virginia.” (Trump has, nevertheless, taken goal at clean energy projects even in purple states, together with by freezing Inflation Discount Act funding, which particularly introduced billions of dollars to Republican districts.)
And though tariffs are including some uncertainty to the challenge’s price, Blue famous that their impacts are “manageable.” “We’ve labored on our provide chain for a while. . . . the overwhelming majority of the supplies that we procure are immediately from U.S. suppliers,” he stated. “We’ve got been inserting some orders forward of tariff efficient dates to mitigate price will increase the place it’s doable.”
