Tag: Wind power

Adding another extracurricular to the checklist, Google is investing in a “mammoth” offshore wind farm along the Atlantic seaboard. The search giant is taking a 37.6 percent equity stake in the project, which will connect 6,000 megawatts of offshore turbines (or roughly 60 percent of the wind energy built in the U.S. last year). The project is called the Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC) and will connect wind turbines across a 350-mile stretch from New Jersey to Virginia. Here’s what we know about the project and why Google is undertaking it:

• Google Is Just Getting the Ball Rolling, explains Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch: “The entire project is expected to cost about $5 billion, but Google is only investing in the first phase to help get it off the ground (or, rather, out to sea). The first phase includes only getting the necessary governmental approvals and financing before the wind power line can actually begin construction. While it is the least expensive part of the process, it is actually the trickiest because of popular opposition to offshore wind farms in general. Other investors include Good Energies and Marubeni Corporation.“

• It’s Great PR, writes Seth Weintraub at Fortune: “Projects like these aren’t just to make the electricity that Google needs more reliable and less expensive (and a return on their investment), it also helps foster an environmental image for Google which is much more valuable than any profits they’ll receive.”

• They’ll Never Have to Worry About Blackouts, writes Chris Dawson at ZDNet: “It isn