Atlantic Grid Development
New Jersey Energy Link | Atlantic Wind Connection.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
N/A | Growth Equity VC | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Atlantic Grid Development, LLC, is the developer behind the Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC), a proposed sub-sea electrical transmission backbone designed for the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region. The project was initiated by Trans-Elect Development Company, with backing announced in 2010 from a consortium of investors including Google Energy, investment firm Good Energies (later Bregal Energy), and Japanese trading company Marubeni. The Belgian transmission system operator Elia joined as an equity investor in 2011. The development was led by CEO Robert L. Mitchell, a veteran of the energy sector and founder of Trans-Elect, America's first independent transmission company, and president Markian Melnyk.
The AWC was conceived as a foundational infrastructure project to unlock the significant offshore wind energy potential of the U.S. East Coast. The business model centered on creating an open-access, high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) offshore grid spanning approximately 350 miles from northern New Jersey to southern Virginia. This underwater 'superhighway' was intended to collect power generated by multiple, unaffiliated offshore wind farms located in federally designated areas and transmit it efficiently to the onshore grid, serving an estimated 1.9 million households. By creating a shared transmission network, the project aimed to reduce the need for individual, redundant connection cables for each wind farm, thereby lowering costs and environmental impact. Revenue would have been generated by operating as a federally regulated public utility, providing transmission services to the wind farm operators.
The core service of the AWC project was the construction and operation of a 6,000-megawatt capacity offshore transmission system. The system's key feature was its use of HVDC technology, which allows for more efficient long-distance power transmission with lower energy losses compared to standard AC lines. The project was planned in phases, with the first segment intended to connect New Jersey and Delaware. A significant benefit of the design was its ability to improve the reliability and reduce congestion on the existing onshore power grid, allowing for the efficient transfer of conventional energy when wind power was unavailable. However, the full-scale project did not proceed, reportedly due to financing challenges and the low cost of natural gas, which made large-scale offshore wind less competitive at the time.
Keywords: offshore wind, electricity transmission, energy infrastructure, HVDC technology, Mid-Atlantic, power grid, renewable energy, subsea cable, grid development, energy investment, Trans-Elect, Google Energy, Robert Mitchell, PJM Interconnection, clean energy backbone, marine energy, utility project, wind farm connection, energy transmission network, grid reliability