Google has made another clean energy investment, this time buying six solar power plants, which are currently under development and are expected to become fully operational in January 2014.
Together with the global investment firm KKR, and Recurrent Energy, they paid a total of $400 million for the solar plants with combined capacity of 106 megawatts.
Recurrent Energy, a well known partner of Google and KKR, is the company responsible for the development of the plants. A quick reminder, back in 2011, the three companies announced a joint collaboration in developing solar power plants near Sacramento. According to Kojo Ako-Asare, the head of corporate finance for Google, all three companies are very proud and happy to continue their partnership and have yet another joint venture. This time five of the plants will be located in southern California and one in Arizona.
How much each of the companies invested in the projects has not been announced, although some say that Google’s contribution is around $80 million, adding to the $1 billion that the company has previously invested in renewable energy sources, in the U.S. and abroad. They are also one of the not-so-many tech giants, who convert old or construct new data centers, powered entirely by renewables. For them, investing in renewable energy is not only beneficial for the environment but it has also proven to be very good for the business. It is more than certain that this is not Google’s last clean energy deal that we hear of.
