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CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

May 31, 2013

Google Invests $1B in Green Energy Projects
Filed under: Energy — Tags: — nedpelger

I’m a big fan of Google, but this story has me wondering. Yesterday, Google announced they invested $12M US in a South African Solar farm. The 96 MW facility will take advantage of a government program that subsidizes solar.

Here’s a list of green energy projects Google has undertaken.

GOOGLE’s $1 billion in clean energy investments

1. $12 million in the Jasper Power Project, a solar power plant to be built in South Africa

2. $200 million in the Spinning Spur Wind Farm, a 161-megawatt wind farm in West Texas

3. $75 million in the Rippey Wind Farm, a 50-megawatt wind farm in Iowa

4. $94 million in four solar photovoltaic projects being built by Recurrent Energy near Sacramento

5. $75 million to create a fund with Clean Power Finance to help up to 3,000 homeowners go solar

6. $280 million in a SolarCity fund to help 8,000 customers go solar

7. $168 million in BrightSource Energy’s Ivanpah project, a solar thermal plant currently being built in California’s Mojave Desert

8. Investment in the Atlantic Wind Connection, critical transmission infrastructure for offshore wind power

9. $157 million into Alta Wind, a wind farm in the Tehachapi Mountains in Southern California

10. $100 million in the Shepherd’s Flat wind farm in Oregon

11. $38.8 million into two wind farms in North Dakota

12. $5 million in a solar power plant in Brandenburg, Germany

It seems to me most of these investments make no economic sense without huge government subsidies. I wonder why so much gets spent on technologies, from what I can find, aren’t even close to being economically viable.

I hope Google can prove me wrong. I’d love to see some published numbers that show all the lifecycle costs and the true energy rate delivered.