Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Google Invests In Tehachapi Wind Project

Search engine giant Google is making more investments in Southern California energy, saying this morning that it has made a $55M investment to finance a wind project supplying power to Southern California Edison. Google said the investment will go to finance the Alta IV project at the Alta Wind Energy Center. The firm said the funding brings its total invested in energy to more than $400M. Citibank is also investing in the Alta IV project, which will add 102 megawatts of power to the 1,550 MW of capacity at the Alta Wind Energy Sector. The project is being developed by Terra-Gen, and is structured as a leveraged lease where Google and Citi will purchase the Alta IV project, and will lease it back to Terra-Gen under long term power agreements. The project is the second, major wind energy project Google has invested in over the last month or so; the firm said in April that it would invest $100M in a new wind farm in Oregon, which is also being constructed to supply energy to Southern California.

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