Wind power to the rescue? Hampton Roads, Virginia’s second-largest population center, is the anchor dragging down Virginia’s economic growth. Could that be about to change? The region has pinned its economic-development hopes upon leveraging Dominion Energy’s $9.8 billion offshore wind farm to become a manufacturing and supply- chain center for the burgeoning East Coast wind industry. Earlier this year, Dominion announced that it would invest $500 million to build a wind-turbine installation ship, but would build it in Texas — a seeming disappointment for Hampton Roads. However, the energy company announced yesterday that it had ordered 176 wind turbines from Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. The turbine blades will be manufactured in a Portsmouth facility the Spanish company announced in October that it planned to open, investing $200 million and creating 310 jobs. So, there is hope after all that Virginia will capture some economic benefit from the super-expensive wind farm.
Hampton Roads hotels on the upswing. The hospitality industry was crushed by the COVID epidemic as Americans cut back on travel. But hotels in Hampton Roads have outperformed the industry compared to Richmond, Northern Virginia, the state as a whole, and even the U.S. After suffering a 9% contraction — much milder than elsewhere — the industry has rebounded smartly, according to data published in the “2021 State of the Commonwealth Report” published by Old Dominion University.
Percent change in monthly hotel revenue, 2019-2021. Source: “2021 State of the Commonwealth Report”
Sentara teams with EVMS and ODU. In other developments, three of Hampton Roads’ most important institutions — Sentara Healthcare, Old Dominion University, and Eastern Virginia Medical School — have agreed to collaborate in creating Virginia’s first school of public health, reports Virginia Business. The region has high rates of heart disease, diabetes, infant mortality, and cancer. Sentara CEO Howard Kern said that healthcare had reached “crisis levels in terms of talent development and workforce.” High-level representatives of the three institutions will meet regularly to “discuss the potential” to create an academic health center and develop a sustainable financial model for local health education.
They’d better do more than talk. Virginia Commonwealth University has announced its own ambitions to create a school of public health, and it has gotten the jump in undergoing regulatory and budgetary review. Just a hunch: VCU might well contend that Virginia doesn’t need two schools of public health.
