Google Invests $80 Million in 6 New Solar Projects

November marks another month and another substantial renewable energy investment for Google.

The Web company has plans to invest $80 million in six solar facilities under construction in California and Arizona. The announcement comes a little more than a month after Google invested $103 million in Silver Ridge Power’s 265.7-megawatt (MW) Mount Signal Solar project.

To date, Google has poured more than $1 billion into 14 renewable energy facilities around the world.

The Arizona and Southern California plants will be operational in January. Recurrent Energy is developing the plants, which will have a combined capacity of 106 MW. That’s enough to power 17,000 homes.

“These investments are all part of our drive toward a clean energy future—where renewable energy is abundant, accessible and affordable,” head of corporate finance Kojo Ako-Asare wrote in the company’s blog. “By continuing to invest in renewable energy projects, purchasing clean energy for our operations and working with our utility partners to create new options for ourselves and for other companies interest in buying renewable energy, we’re working hard to make that future a reality.”

Google partnered with investment firm KKR to finance the projects. Google worked with KKR and Recurrent two years ago to fund four solar projects near Sacramento, CA. Google and Recurrent did not announce the exact locations of all six plants, but said three local utilities would offer the solar power to residents through purchase plan agreements, including Southern California Edison.

Google’s clean energy profile will offer 2 gigawatts (GW) of power once the Arizona and California projects are operational. The company estimates that’s enough to power 500,000 homes or all of the public elementary schools in New York, Oregon and Wyoming for one year. Recurrent also has 2 GW in its profile, along with 700 MW in contracted projects.

Here are some of Google’s other renewable energy investments:

Jasper Power Project: investing in South African solar
Spinning Spur Wind Farm: investing in West Texas wind
Rippey Wind Farm: financing wind power in Iowa
Clean Power Finance: financing for rooftop solar
SolarCity: solar for thousands of residential rooftops
BrightSource: concentrated solar power at scale
Atlantic Wind Connection: a superhighway for clean energy transmission
Alta Wind Energy Center: harnessing winds of the Mojave
Shepherd’s Flat: one of the world’s largest wind farms
Peace Garden Wind Farms: opening up more financing for wind

Visit EcoWatch’s RENEWABLES page for more related news on this topic.

[source: http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/19/google-80-million-solar-projects/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=google-80-million-solar-projects]