Google to Fund Offshore Power Project

I just read that Google is going to partner with two other companies,
Good Energies and Marubeni Corp, to begin a project titled the Atlantic
Wind Connection. These companies have committed to build a 350 mile
electricity transmission line 10 - 15 miles off the East Coast of the
United States, from Virginia to New Jersey.

They estimate the cost could reach $20 billion and be completed in 2020.
Construction is due to begin in 2013 due to regulatory hurdles. They
have committed to building the transmission lines only, this is the
basic infrastructure to support offshore wind turbines and the first of
its kind to be built off the East Coast.

I imagine that leases will be sold to wind turbine operators to tap into
the infrastructure. It's a good business model which could create a low
risk, perpetual revenue stream.

Also, I like this new focus on the ocean for energy. We have oil
platforms already, fleets of transporters, etc. I think that the oceans
hold huge potential for our future, it's exciting and adventurous.
Projects like this will give us another reason to live and work on the
seas. With more people depending on it, a meme of consciousness could
build and make our race better stewards of it. It might bring us back to
a time when the oceans were more revered and sacred. Getting us closer
to a childhood dream of mine, adventure on the high seas.

--sushisticks