It's WINDSday | April 19, 2023

Celebrating the Power of Wind, Clean Energy and a Green Environment

Kudos to Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Alexander and city staff for an impressive State of the City presentation before 1,200 guests at the Main last Friday.

The food was fine, as were comments from the podium and a handout at each seat promoting the offshore wind industry (OSW) that is coming to the region. Norfolk’s most prominent location will be the former 111-acre Lambert’s Point Docks, renamed Fairwinds Landing (FW), set to become a “world class maritime operations and logistics center.” Expect tenants to be ones that require “robust port infrastructure to move items of great size and weight by water.” That sounds like massive pieces that OSW will need for Dominion’s CVOW and other east coast projects.

In fact Dominion is negotiating a lease at FW to build $40-millon in offices, warehouses and vessel berthing space.

Fairlead/Newport News Shipbuilding has secured 50 acres, and there are talks underway with major manufacturers. All in all, they represent an estimated $600 million in capital investments and up to 1,000 jobs.

Stay tuned for big news, and thank you Norfolk for the heads-up.

CVOW will be off the coast of Virginia Beach, but you can become certified to work on and around the turbines four hours inland at New College Institute (NCI) in Martinsville.

There are several weeklong wind turbine technician training courses this summer to learn the nuts and bolts, based on the required GWO (Global Wind Organization) training. (CLICK HERE for detail.) Soon there will also be “sea survival” training in a nearby quarry. Martinsville, home to a NASCAR speedway, theater, parks, trails, inns, eateries, a lavender farm and the Elephants on Parade Mural, is not a bad place to indulge in recreation while getting educated.

NCI is linked with Mid Atlantic Maritime Academy and Centura College, both in Norfolk, as part of Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Wind Training Alliance.

When it was announced in 2020, Dominion Energy’s VP for Offshore Wind Josh Bennett said the “Alliance is a critical step in developing a talented offshore wind workforce here in Virginia.” 

NCI’s new head is Army vet Joe Sumner, who came to NCI with extensive experience in technical education and manufacturing in his native Georgia. “The southern region of Virginia feels like home to me.”

For a week of turbine tutoring, it can be home to you too. 

Clifford House, NCI Instructor

Joe Sumner, NCI Executive Director 

Daniel B. Nice (yes, that’s his middle initial) was happy to sell his construction company’s 66-year-old former headquarters, the first office building in old Warwick County, to his former neighbors, the Newells, in 2021.

Johnny and Terri needed it because their now 24-year-old business, Commonwealth Pest Control, required more space.

Johnny started spraying for bugs as a teenager in Denbigh, not far from the Warwick Boulevard edifice where he, Terri and their 18 employees now work. Today the team also provides moisture control and wood damage repair in both residential and commercial settings, using very green products by request.   

Marketing is done remotely by son Cory, whose background is in communications and church management, but is today a Navy chaplain and busy wedding officiant in Rhode Island.  

The Newells, lifelong Peninsula residents, were happy to slap WINDSday stickers on their service vehicles to show their support for the renewable energy industry that will benefit all of Hampton Roads. Concerned about termites, varmints or your crawlspace? Call 757-873-2030 or visit www.commonwealthext.com.

800 photographers from up and down the Mid-Atlantic submitted fantastic pics to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which then narrowed down the entries to 10 finalists for its annual Save the Bay Photo Contest.

You have until April 21 to choose your favorite, whether it’s Dueling Drakes, ‘Til the Sun Goes Down or eight others. CLICK HERE to vote.

“Rising temperatures will reduce the area suitable for growing coffee by up to 50% by 2050.” So writes the Inter-American Development Bank, noting that “coffee crops require specific temperature, light and humidity levels and those needs are best met in Latin America’s so-called coffee belt.” But not now.

Brazil, the world's leading grower of coffee, has been hit particularly hard, suffering drought, frost and heavy rains in consecutive years. “We are very concerned about this,” says Wayne Richmon, who opened Roast Rider in Hilltop in 2013. Wayne and wife Lisa depend on sophisticated international roasters with a social responsibility bent to provide their blends, which are excellent. They focus on “fueling” the customers, including, as it says at www.roastridercoffee.com, “weary parents, remote workers, scared patients, brazen entrepreneurs, lost loves, and anyone in transition.”

So obviously Wayne wants to keep prices as low as possible, a tough task when the climate is having its way with coffee beans.

Wayne, with coffee crew members Coral Maxey and Kayla Locke were happy to join us in promoting an antidote to climate change, renewable energy. So thank Roast Rider for being a WINDSday partner, but more importantly, for flawlessly roasted beans, “brewed with triple-filtered water, and prepared for you by expertly trained baristas who believe they’re setting the tone for your entire day.” We’ll drink to that.