Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC) was a proposed electrical transmission backbone by Trans-Elect Development Company that could be constructed off the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

to service off-shore

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

Google Energy Google Energy LLC is a subsidiary company of Alphabet Inc., which was created to reduce costs of energy consumption of the Google Group, and subsequently to produce and sell clean energy. The division also allows it to take advantage of project ...

, the investment firm Good Energies, and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese trading firm Marubeni announced that they were investing "tens of millions of dollars" in the initial development stage of what could become a $5 billion project.Ovide, Shira
"Google's Wind Project Got Lift From Vail Ski Trip"
''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', October 12, 2010. Accessed October 16, 2010. Financing for the project never lined up, reportedly because the low cost of natural gas made large scale offshore wind uncompetitive. The project continued to move forward as of May 2012 and in January, 2013 with plans to build the first segment off New Jersey.

Project description

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 Rehoboth Beach ( ) is a city on the Atlantic Ocean along the Delaware Beaches in eastern Sussex County, Delaware. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the population was 1,327, reflecting a decline of 161 (11.2%) from the 1,488 counted in the 2000 ce ...

, the site of a proposed offshore wind project with a

Power Purchase Agreement A power purchase agreement (PPA), or electricity power agreement, is a contract between two parties, one which generates electricity (the seller) and one which is looking to purchase electricity (the buyer). The PPA defines all of the commercial te ...

.Agreement reached on Delaware Wind Farm
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', June 24, 2008. Accessed October 16, 2010. Power would be carried with a cable placed in trenches on the seabed offshore. With an estimated cost of $1.7 billion, phase one would begin construction in 2015. The remaining southern connection to

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

and an extension to

Gateway Region The Gateway Region is the primary urbanized area of the northeastern section of New Jersey. It is anchored by Newark, the state's most populous city. While sometimes known as the Newark metropolitan area, it is part of the New York metropolitan ...

of northern New Jersey and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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. The project was proposed to deliver power ashore in

southern Virginia Southern Virginia is a region in the U.S. state of Virginia located along the border with North Carolina. The region includes the counties of Brunswick, Charlotte, Greensville, Halifax, Henry, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Pittsylvania, and the i ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, southern New Jersey and

northern New Jersey North Jersey comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation of northern New Jersey with a distinct toponym is a colloquial one rather than an administrati ...

using of cable as a backbone that could be used by wind power systems built miles off of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

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.Needham, Rick
"The wind cries transmission"

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

, October 11, 2010. Accessed October 12, 2010.Wilgoren, Debbi
"Google helps finance 'superhighway' for wind power"
''

'', October 12, 2010. 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 limit where states wield authority, the system would be under the federal jurisdiction of the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

Initial phase off New Jersey

As of January, 2013 a proposal to seek approval for construction of the initial leg off New Jersey was announced. Construction of this phase responds to a need to equalize power costs between southern and northern New Jersey, provide statutorily required renewable energy, and, by limiting the project to one state, simplify regulatory and permitting issues. Construction of the 189 mile project, which would stretch from the vicinity of

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

, would begin in 2015 if regulatory approval was obtained. On January 17, 2013 Atlantic Wind Connection announced it had selected

Bechtel Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. , the ''Engineering News-Record'' ranked Bechtel as the sec ...

as the EPC contractor and Alstom as technical advisor for the first phase of the development. Studies completed in 2012 concluded that a new marine terminal at the Port of Paulsboro is well suited to become a center for the manufacture, assembly, and transport of

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s to be used to further the development of

wind power in New Jersey Wind power in New Jersey is in the early stages of development. As of 2022, New Jersey has just six wind turbines, but the state has plans to develop several major offshore wind projects on the continental shelf of the Atlantic Ocean off the sout ...

Opinions

The proposed system has been praised by environmentalists and federal regulators, with

Jon Wellinghoff Jon B. Wellinghoff (born May 30, 1949) is an American attorney who served as the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from 2009 to 2013. The FERC is a U.S. government agency that regulates the interstate transmission of el ...

, chairman of the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the United States federal agency that regulates the transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas in interstate commerce and regulates the transportation of oil by pipeline in ...

(FERC) calling it "one of the most interesting transmission projects that I've ever seen walk through the door", saying that the system "provides a gathering point for offshore wind for multiple projects up and down the coast." Former FERC chairman James J. Hoecker, who heads a group that represents power transmission system owners called the proposal "a necessary piece of what the Eastern governors have been talking about in terms of taking advantage of offshore wind" and noted that the system would help average out the variable output of wind farms. Google's director of its green business operations group, Richard L. Needham, called the project "an opportunity to kick-start this industry and, long term, provide a way for the mid-Atlantic states to meet their renewable energy goals." Melinda Pierce of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

said that she had opposed other power line projects but would support the Atlantic Wind Connection, as "These kinds of audacious ideas might just be what we need to break through the wretched logjam". The concept of an offshore transmission backbone coordinated with several projects was an item in a speech by

Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also

*Interior ministry ...

Ken Salazar a week before AWC was announced, Salazar, Ken
"Secretary Salazar Promotes Clean Energy, Signs Cape Wind Lease at AWEA Conference"

, October 6, 2010. Accessed October 16, 2010. and the concept is also a part of the national strategy on offshore wind power.A national offshore wind strategy: Creating an offshore wind energy industry in the United States
page 33 U.S. Department of Energy, 7 February 2011. Accessed: 8 February 2011.

Challenges

However, as the first such project of this nature, it poses significant risks of encountering unexpected technological challenges, bureaucratic backlogs and cost overruns. Virginia politicians have opposed previous proposals that would send low-cost energy out of the state.

PJM Interconnection PJM Interconnection LLC (PJM) is a regional transmission organization (RTO) in the United States. It is part of the Eastern Interconnection grid operating an electric transmission system serving all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kent ...

, the

regional transmission organization A regional transmission organization (RTO) in the United States is an electric power transmission system operator (TSO) that coordinates, controls, and monitors a multi-state electric grid. The transfer of electricity between states is considered i ...

that covers the area and is the world's largest competitive wholesale

electricity market In a broad sense, an electricity market is a system that facilitates the exchange of electricity-related goods and services. During more than a century of evolution of the electric power industry, the economics of the electricity markets had un ...

, would need to develop a formula to assess its customers for the costs associated with hooking up the new cables, increasing grid capacity and making the system more reliable.

Resource area

The project would take advantage of the fact that the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

slopes rather gradually in the Atlantic Ocean and that it would not be exposed to the freezing temperatures characteristic of the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

. The

Mid-Atlantic Bight The Mid-Atlantic Bight is a coastal region running from Massachusetts to North Carolina. It contains the New York Bight. It is separated from the South Atlantic Bight by Cape Hatteras to the south and the Gulf of Maine to the north by Cape Cod ...

offers the potential of 60,000 megawatts of wind power generating capacity in an area that has relatively little

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

potential from other sources. The resource area, the Mid-Atlantic Bight, was identified and mapped in 2006Kempton et al
Large CO2 reductions via offshore wind power matched to inherent storage in energy end-uses

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

, November 4, 2006. Accessed October 16, 2010. by Willett M. Kempton of the

, and again in 2008 in the ''

Journal of Marine Research The ''Journal of Marine Research'' is an American journal, first published by Yale University in 1937, that covers peer-reviewed scientific articles and is still published today. The academic journal publishes articles Article often refers to: ...

''. Twenty-one years of hourly data from

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

buoy A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. Types Navigational buoys * Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of yac ...

anemometer In meteorology, an anemometer () is a device that measures wind speed and direction. It is a common instrument used in weather stations. The earliest known description of an anemometer was by Italian architect and author Leon Battista Alberti ...

s show an

extrapolated In mathematics, extrapolation is a type of estimation, beyond the original observation range, of the value of a variable on the basis of its relationship with another variable. It is similar to interpolation, which produces estimates between kn ...

mean

wind speed In meteorology, wind speed, or wind flow speed, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity caused by air moving from high to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer. Wind speed ...

of 8.3 m/s at 80 m height, giving a

capacity factor The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that period. The theoretical maximum energy output of a given installation is def ...

of 39% for oceanic turbines (36% for coastal). A single offshore site had zero wind 15% of the time. Considering three connected offshore sites in a larger area between

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

(34° N) and

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

(43° N), zero power occurred 2% of the time. For six connected offshore sites, zero power occurred 0.3% of the time. Baseload fossil fuel generating plants are typically unavailable 6% of the time. The principal difference is that wind power is a non-dispatchable resource, not that it is "unreliable".

References

External links

Official website
{{Wind power in the United States Electric power transmission systems in the United States Energy infrastructure in Delaware Wind power in Delaware Wind power in New Jersey Energy infrastructure in Virginia Wind power in Virginia Wind power in the United States Submarine power cables Electric power transmission systems in New Jersey Google