Google Buys In
Google isn't just investing in renewable energy technologies, it's now in the power business.
It won approval in February from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to buy and sell electricity and is now the part-owner of two wind farms in North Dakota. Google said this $38.8 million investment is intended to accelerate renewable energy development and to make money, too. "On Friday we made our first direct investment in a utility-scale renewable energy project - two wind farms that generate 169.5 megawatts of power," Google announced this week on its blog.
The investment is not in the google.org philanthropic arm, which has interests in the development of wind, solar and geothermal energy technologies. Other renewable energy investments by Google include utility-scale solar power company eSolar and AltaRock, a renewable energy company that focuses on geothermal technology for energy development.
"We look forward to finding more opportunities to invest in renewable energy projects that use the latest technologies to push the envelope for delivering low-cost clean energy," said Rick Needham, Google's green business operations manager.
The wind farms use advanced turbine technology and control systems to achieve greater efficiencies.
Google has been active in renewable energy innovations for awhile, but the entry into the utility-scale projects is a new phase. "To tackle this need, we've been looking at investments in renewable energy projects, like the one we just signed, that can accelerate the deployment of the latest clean energy technology while providing attractive returns to Google and more capital for developers to build additional projects," the company said.
Late last week, NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, a subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc., said it had sold interests in its 169.5 megawatts of wind energy projects in North Dakota. Google revealed it was the buyer on its blog on Monday. NextEra, the country's leader in wind energy assets, said it intends to reinvest the proceeds in other projects.
So the biggest wind developer and the dominant search engine are now a team. I wonder what that means for the future of wind energy.
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