14 DAY TRIAL // Google is continuing its expansion into green energy and is announcing an investment into another major solar power project in California and Arizona. The search giant is pouring $80 million (€60 million) into the project, which is also funded by investment company KKR.
"Developed by leading solar developer Recurrent Energy, the projects have a combined capacity of 106MW and will generate enough electricity to power over 17,000 U.S. homes," the company explains.
The project will cover six sites in the two states and add up to a sizable output of energy. This will be Google's 14th investment in green energy.
This time around, it's just providing some of the money needed to build the plants; it's not going to get any energy out of it, at least not directly. But the company benefits from having more green energy introduced into the national grid.
"These investments are all part of our drive toward a clean energy future—where renewable energy is abundant, accessible and affordable," Google explained.
"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," it added.
Google has sunk more than $1 billion (€744 million) into green energy, either in investments or deals to purchase energy. However, this is no charity work. The company is making money, in the long term, on all of its investments, or it's at least powering its data centers with clean energy.
The company has a goal of becoming completely carbon neutral, something that it now achieves by buying carbon offsets. But, eventually, it wants all of its data centers and operations to be run by clean energy so it can be truly carbon-neutral on its own.