Google (GOOG) announced on their official blog last night that they are investing in the development of a major transmission backbone for wind farms off the Mid Atlantic coast which will stretch 350 miles from NJ to Virginia and have the capacity to connect 6000MW in offshore wind energy.. enough to serve nearly 2 million homes.

The Mid-Atlantic region is well suited to offshore wind energy with 60,000 MW of potential in relatively shallow waters that extend miles out to sea. This transmission system will make it more enticing for offshore wind developers to invest because they won’t have to run the lines themselves and deal with the headaches of permitting.

The AWC project will be led by independent transmission company Trans-Elect and is financed by Google, Good Energies and Marubeni Corporation. Google is investing 37.5% of the equity needed for just the initial development stage, but the company believes this is the most critical stage and will still offer good returns on investment.