Google making large investments in Green Energy projects
Google is making a stand for the environment and backing a large
green energy project. This time it is a $102 million investment at the
Alta Wind Energy Center in Southern California. The search giant has been on a green energy kick, signing several large wind and solar energy deals.. Wednesday’s deal is a follow-on to a $55 million investment Google made in May in a huge
wind farm under construction in
Southern California.
The $55 million, matched by Citibank, went into the 102-megawatt Alta IV phase of the 1,550-megawatt Alta Wind Energy Center being built by Terra-Gen Power in the Tehachapi region of SoCal. The new $102 million will be invested in the Alta V phase of the project. Citibank is also on board with that investment.
For those keeping score, Google so far this year has invested $700 million in green energy projects. Last week the company announced it would create a $280 million fund to finance residential solar systems to be installed by Silicon Valley startup SolarCity. Utility Southern California Edison has contracted to buy the power from the Alta Wind Project, which currently is generating 720 megawatts.
In past wind energy deals, Google has signed power purchase agreements with wind farm operators to buy the electricity they produce. This time Google partnered with Citibank to acquire the Alta IV and Alta V projects and will lease them back to Terra-Gen Power in a leveraged lease deal.
“It’s a financial structure that we hope will encourage new types of investors to consider investing in wind,” Rick Needham, Google’s director of green business operations, wrote in a blog post Wednesday. “We are particularly excited about AWEC because it will be one of the largest wind energy centers in the world.”
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