Proposed underwater transmission backbone would harness offshore wind energy

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A proposed $5 billion, 350-mile underwater transmission backbone 15-20 miles off the East Coast could make building offshore wind farms and moving the power onshore look promising — promising enough for Google to sign on as a major investor, according to an article in the New York Times. And while government and industry officials alike praised the Atlantic Wind Connection transmission concept, they raised the same concerns that come up whenever any new, untested renewable energy concept (like offshore wind farms) is on the table. Massive technological challenges, potential cost overruns, administrative delays, environmental and political issues all could be stubborn obstacles. That said, the proposed backbone would be located in shallow seabed trenches from Norfolk, VA, to northern New Jersey. Maryland-based transmission line company Trans-Elect proposed the project; Google and green energy investment firm Good Energies have

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each agreed to take on 37.5% of the equity part of the project and would like to lure more investors. Japanese trading company Marubeni has a 15% stake. If all goes according to plan, the first 150-mile phase of the project could be online by early 2016, with the balance finished by 2021.

Quick Take: This is certainly a bold move to advance the smart grid initiative by taking advantage of powerful offshore wind, but we agree that it also presents a lot of very high hurdles to cross. But at least this project and the wind farms that may be built because of it won't have to deal with the visibility issue that plagued the country's first approved offshore wind project, Cape Wind, for nine years.