Google invests in wind farm backbone
Google's search for alternative power to keep its datacenters humming is taking it to the Atlantic Ocean off the Mid-Altantic region.
In a blog post, Google said it will fund the Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC) backbone, a series of undersea transmission lines connecting various wind turbines from New Jersey to Delaware to Virginia.
As for the financials, noted on Smart Planet, the details break down like this:
- Google will fund 37.5 percent of the equity in the project, which will be managed by electric transmission outfit Tran-Elect.
- The New York Times reports the total cost will be about $5 billion.
- The first phase of construction, which would cost about $1.8 billion, would start on a 150-mile span from New Jersey to Rehoboth Beach, Del. and be available in 2016, according to the Times.
- Google's investment partners include Good Energies, which has funded a bevy of clean energy startups, and Marubeni, which has energy projects all over the world including Ghana, Mongolia and Kazakhstan.
Why bother with these investments? Google needs power to keep its datacenters running and is always looking for new sources of energy. As Google noted, its investment in these types of projects is good business that happens to be good for the environment. Google has been playing with alternative energy sources for years. The search giant has looked into everything from wind turbines to wave powered floating datacenters.
Here's a list of Google's recent energy moves: