Google has recently announced  plans to invest $200 million on a 350 mile cable, dubbed the “transmission backbone”, designed to bring offshore wind power to up to 1.9 million future homes. Along with fellow investor Good Energies, the $5 billion project would be the first of its kind in the United States and a testament to the viability of offshore wind power.

The project has been met with some skepticism, however, by those fearing that regulation delays and the unforeseen challenges that could bring the project to a halt.

Another pioneer effort in wind power energy has recently made headlines. Cape Wind, a New England based energy company, has obtained a lease from the Interior Department to build the first offshore wind farm in federal waters. Set off the coast of Massachusetts, the project hopes to construct 130 wind turbines that could produce enough clean energy to replace 113 million gallons of oil a year. Cape Wind hopes to begin construction by 2011.  -Melanie Touchstone