Transmission Series Part II: The CVOW Cable Route

Landing a cable at Virginia Beach poses unique challenges. As home to the world’s largest Naval base, the waters present a veritable obstacle course for a cable alignment, with off-limits training zones and historic explosive dump areas narrowing the options for developers. The work was informed through analysis with GIS tools such as the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal and Marine Cadastre, extensive surveying by scientists at sea, and robust stakeholder outreach.

Dominion Energy Environmental Services Environmental Technical Advisor Scott Lawton described some of the major considerations that went into designing the alignment. A snapshot of these can be seen in the map above, with the CVOW cable shown in dark blue.

• Military Uses: The cable had to thread between two Naval “danger zones” shown in dotted pink lines above. Toward the end, the corridor was less than 2 miles wide. The line briefly crosses through a firing range area; the developers had to consult the Navy for permission to lay the cable during periods when it wasn’t in use. South of the corridor is an exclusion zone that was totally off limits, and to its north is an area where unexploded ordnances have been deposited.
• Maritime Uses: Shown in maroon to the cable’s north are federally designated traffic lanes which serve as the gateway to Chesapeake Bay for tankers and cargo ships from around the world. Lawton said it was important to steer clear of the lanes since they are periodically dredged and the massive vessels’ anchors can burrow deep into the ocean floor there, threatening the lines.
• Sediment Borrow/Deposit Areas: About 3 miles offshore, the line runs through the Dam Neck placement area, used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to deposit dredged materials from the shipping channels. Although sediments in the section it passes through are not actively being extracted for beach replenishment projects, the developers did have to gain permission from the USACE and bury the line deep beneath the area.
• Fisheries: Lawton said the developers were in frequent contact with members of the commercial and recreational fishing fleets to keep them apprised of their activities. A fishery liaison officer was hired as their “feet on the docks” and local captains were hired to scout the vicinity of the cable route for fishing activity and fixed gear such as crab pots, he said.
• Wrecks: The line needed to weave between the high number of shipwrecks along the ocean floor in the vicinity.
• Telecom Cables: The same narrow corridor used by the power line is shared by three recently constructed high-capacity telecommunications cables (seen in light blue). Agreements needed to be reached for the power line to cross over them, and mattressing was installed between them for protection.