Google (GOOG) is investing in an undersea power cable project linking offshore wind farms with energy grids along the Mid-Atlantic region. Known as the Atlantic Wind Connection backbone, the cable will stretch 350 miles off the Atlantic coast from New Jersey to Virginia. The cable will collect power from multiple offshore wind farms and deliver it via the cables to the on-shore grid. The AWC backbone will be able to tap into 6000 megawatts of offshore generation, enough to serve about 1.9 million homes according to reports.
Google, will take a 37.5% stake in the project. “We’re willing to take calculated risks on early-stage ideas and projects that can have dramatic impacts while offering attractive returns,” Rick Needham, green business operations director, wrote on the Google official blog. Other investors in the project include U.S.-based Good Energies which invests in energy projects with a 37.5% equity stake, Japan’s Marubeni Corporation will have a 15% stake. Atlantic Grid Development LLC, a company formed to develop the project whose shareholders include independent transmission company Trans-Elect, will have 10%.
Project cots Google billions
Businessweek says the first phase of the project, which the developers aim to complete by early 2016, would run about 150 miles and cost between $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion. The second phase to complete the 350-mile line could be finished by 2020, Bob Mitchell, chief executive officer of Trans-Elect, told reporters telephone interview. The New York Times reports the project will cost $5 billion total in total. Reports are that Google and Good Energies’ initial investment is about $200 million each for the first phase of the project.
The partners believe that the mid-Atlantic region’s shallow waters will make it easier to install turbines 10-15 miles offshore, almost out of sight from land. Without it, offshore wind developers would be forced to build individual radial transmission lines from each offshore wind project to the shore, Needham claimed. “This system will act as a superhighway for clean energy,” Mr. Needham wrote, adding that the proposed project could remove “a major barrier to scaling up offshore wind“. If successful, the AWC project will help to relieve grid congestion and boost transmission capacity in a key market. Google believes that the move into alternative energy is consistent with the company’s goal of promoting renewable energy.
This isn’t the first time Google has dipped its toe in the spreading pool of wind power. The search giant agreed to buy 114 megawatts of clean energy from an Iowa wind farm to power its data centers. Google also invested nearly 40 million in two wind farms.
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Not that I really want to bet against Google, but the IEEE reports that Michigan has an offshore potential of 100 GW, nearly double that of Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey. Perhaps Google co-founder and East Lansing native Larry Page remembers winters in Michigan and thinks that the moving ice sheets on the lakes could damage a tower.
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.