It's WINDSday | August 31, 2022

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

“Dominion says it’ll be forced to scrap wind project off Virginia Beach unless changes are made.”   You can imagine how shocked I was to read this headline last week. Would Dominion Energy walk away from plans to construct 176 wind turbines off the coast of Virginia Beach because of a dispute with the State Corporation Commission over a “performance guarantee”?

Obviously, it’s a very serious matter, and as a former journalist, I try to appreciate all sides, even though I cannot fathom how devastating it will be to so many people here in Hampton Roads if the CVOW project died so close to the finish line.

One of my first calls was to a well-connected Dominion exec who explained the matter to me and what would happen next: more briefs and hearings and, hopefully, a resolution that will keep this amazing initiative on track. In fact, he told me it’s “resolvable.” So that’s what I am telling you. Keep the faith. Let the lawyers and the two Commission judges and staff figure out how to protect the ratepayers while keeping Virginia moving ahead on renewable energy. Because I cannot imagine a world without WINDSdays.

Before there was WINDSday, there was Wednesday. And among many local musicians, Karl Werne owned it.  Karl hosted Wednesday night “Open Mic” nights at various bars at the beach for four decades. Until the pandemic. 

Undeterred, the outstanding acoustic guitarist, singer, and songwriter, who first picked up an instrument at age 11 when he moved here from California following his father’s fatal heart attack (“I was real down, music saved me”), went online. 

Solo performers and small bands, from here and elsewhere, became members of “Karl’s Community” on Facebook and filled the screen with fresh tunes and covers every Wednesday night.

“His open mic nights were fantastic,” says his friend Hunter Hughes, who recommended Werne to be the Official Acoustic Guitarist of the WINDSday Campaign. “The quality and the variety were terrific.” Karl intends to continue his virtual platform on Monday nights, but good news, he is back on stage with open mics at Big Woody’s on General Booth Boulevard. And if you have a yen to share your talents and have Karl and some friends accompany you (Hunter will even sing back-up), come out on a WINDSday (check the FB pages of Big Woody’s or Karl’s Community to confirm it’s on).

At a recent open mic, we met Hampton elementary school secretary and folk singer Mary Saunders, Amazon driver and Beach native Alex Bailey, local baseball coach and strummer Wes Allen, and harmonica player (and singer) Rob Oliver. “I love the sound system at Big Woody’s but appreciate my fellow musicians and the audience even more,” says Karl. “We go deep with them but also do some fun improvisations on stage.”

So thanks for the introduction, Hunter. Karl Werne loves wind energy too, so for us, he’s the perfect match. 

Retired military officers are valuable members of our local community.

That’s why there is the Military Economic Development Advisory Committee or, because we need more acronyms here, MEDAC. The members include a robust group of ex-brass including retired Admirals Jack Kavanaugh, Fenton Priest and Dick Dunleavy. At MEDAC meetings, they hear reports from the likes of Rear Admiral Christopher Gray (pictured making presentation), an actual native of VA Beach, and the newly minted Commander of Navy Region Mid-Atlantic. And thanks to Norfolk’s military affairs liaison, retired Navy captain Len Remias, WINDSdays got the floor in August to share how we are building awareness of offshore wind energy through relationships and partnerships, several of which formed that day at the Assembly on Granby Street.

The Navy has a major role in CVOW, since it will host a substation at NAS Oceana along the transmission route to the electricity grid. MEDAC keeps everyone in the loop.  

Sean Washington, new interim director of Norfolk Economic Development