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VOWDA agrees edits to annual report; members push to monitor federal actions and streamline PPP language
Summary
The Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority approved its draft annual report with edits to include monitoring of federal policy impacts and to add innovation language. Members agreed to generalize proposed public–private partnership statutory language and scheduled a Nov. 12 meeting in Richmond to finalize follow-up items.
The Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority spent substantial time reviewing and amending its draft annual report and proposed code changes, voting to approve the draft with agreed edits and setting a November meeting to continue work.
Chair Ashley McLeod asked members to review page-by-page; members proposed and accepted edits to add federal-impact monitoring to recommendation 4 after Doug Faulkner urged assessing how federal actions affect offshore wind in Virginia. "I would recommend that we put that something like that in the recommendations for the next year," Faulkner said; the committee agreed to add language to continue evaluating federal developments and legislation that could affect current and future offshore-wind projects.
The authority also discussed explicitly including 'innovation' and 'research and development' in objectives and recommendations to capture manufacturing and technology development opportunities. "Innovation is important in manufacturing anything," a member said, and the group agreed to add phrasing such as "research and development and innovation opportunities."
On proposed statutory edits, staff and members agreed to broaden public–private partnership (PPP) authority language by replacing repeated references to "developer" with phrasing such as "developer or other partner" or more generalized wording so the authority can enter partnerships for supply‑chain support, education and data collection without being overly prescriptive. Glenn Davis cautioned that some prescriptive reporting requirements were unnecessary and that the authority already has flexibility to ask for timely reports.
Members debated whether travel reimbursement language should remain permissive or be more explicit. Department staff said reimbursements are contingent on available funds and that the current permissive language reflects budget realities, while some members requested staff check comparable authorities and return with options.
The authority moved and seconded approval of the draft annual report with the edits discussed and set its next meeting for Nov. 12 (1–3 p.m.) in Richmond to finalize open items. Thomas Turner of Conservatives for Clean Energy offered public comment summarizing a study asserting environmental and economic benefits from coupling offshore oil/gas infrastructure with offshore wind.
The report and code recommendations will be finalized and circulated following staff redrafting to reflect members' agreed changes.
