Internet firm Google is one of the prime backers of a giant $5 billion offshore wind project off the US eastern seaboard.

 

It has joined with cleantech investment firm Good Energies and Japan’s Marubeni Corporation to finance a scheme to connect 560 kilometers of offshore wind turbines.

 

The Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC) is planned to generate connect 6,000MW, or 60% of the wind energy that was installed in the US last year, Google said.

 

Transmission company Trans-Elect will lead the project. The companies did not disclose the level of investment, but the New York Times reported it would total $5 billion. Google and Good Energies will each take an initial 37.5% stake, with Marubeni holding 15%.

 

The AWC backbone will collect the power from the offshore wind farms and deliver it via sub-sea cables to the land-based grid.

 

“This system will act as a superhighway for clean energy. By putting strong, secure transmission in place, the project removes a major barrier to scaling up offshore wind,” Rick Needham, Google’s green business operations director, said on the company blog. 

He said Google believe the project would be viable in the mid-Atlantic coastal states because they could build “larger wind farms with larger turbines that can take advantage of stronger and steadier winds offshore.”