Atlantic Wind Connection
| From | Northeastern New Jersey |
|---|---|
| Passes through |
South Jersey Delaware Maryland |
| To | Norfolk, Virginia |
| Owner | Trans-Elect Development Company |
| Partners |
Google Energy Good Energies Marubeni |
| Type | offshore cable |
| Total length | 350 mi (560 km) |
| Power rating | 6,000 MW |
 Land congestion map
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Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC) is a proposed electrical transmission backbone by Trans-Elect Development Company that could be constructed off the East Coast of the United States to service off-shore wind farms. Google Energy, the investment firm Good Energies, and Japanese trading firm Marubeni are investing "tens of millions of dollars" in the initial development stage of what could become a $5 billion project.
The project continued to move forward as of May 2012 and in January, 2013 with plans to build the first segment off New Jersey.
The Atlantic Wind Connection would begin with a first phase that would connect population and power transmission hubs in southern New Jersey and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, the site of a proposed offshore wind project with a Power Purchase Agreement. Power would be carried with a cable placed in trenches on the seabed 20 miles (30 km) offshore. With an estimated cost of $1.7 billion, 170-mile (270 km) phase one would begin construction in 2015. The remaining southern connection to Norfolk, Virginia and an extension to Gateway Region of northern New Jersey and New York City would bring total construction costs to $5 billion and could be completed by 2021. The lead partners Google and Good Energies would each own 37.5% of the project, while Marubeni would have a 15% share.
When fully completed, the project would deliver power ashore in southern Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, southern New Jersey and northern New Jersey using 350 miles (560 km) of cable as a backbone that could be used by wind power systems built miles off of the Atlantic Ocean coast. Initially the system could be used to transport electricity from southern Virginia, where it is cheap, to the New York City area, where it is comparatively expensive. The system would be able to transmit 6,000 megawatts of power and would allow existing energy supplies in Virginia to be transmitted north, bypassing the congested energy grid that exists in the Northeast, in an area that has been identified as one of the most congested portions of the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor. The system's energy transmission capacity would be a "superhighway for clean energy" to serve approximately 1.9 million households, equal to 60% of the wind energy generation capacity that existed in the United States as of 2009. Once the backbone is constructed, wind farms constructed well off the coast and almost invisible from the shore could be constructed and tap into the backbone. By constructing the cable beyond the 3-mile (4.8 km) limit where states wield authority, the system would be under the federal jurisdiction of the United States Department of the Interior.
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Wikipedia