Google has been investing in clean energy for years, and today, the company announced that it has made a $200 million equity investment in a wind farm in west Texas, which the company says generates enough energy to power over 60,000 average U.S. homes.
“Spinning Spur Wind Project is located in Oldham County, a wide open, windy section of the Texas Panhandle located about 35 miles from Amarillo,” explains Google Corporate Finance Senior Manager Kojo Ako-Asare. “The 161 megawatt facility was built by renewable energy developer EDF Renewable Energy, a veteran in the industry that has overseen more than 50 other clean energy projects. Spinning Spur’s 70 2.3 MW Siemens turbines started spinning full time just before the end of the year, and the energy they create has been contracted to SPS, a utility that primarily serves Texas and New Mexico.”
“We look for projects like Spinning Spur because, in addition to creating more renewable energy and strengthening the local economy, they also make for smart investments: they offer attractive returns relative to the risks and allow us to invest in a broad range of assets,” adds Ako-Asare. “We’re also proud to be the first investor in an EDF Renewable Energy project that is not a financial institution, as we believe that corporations can be an important new source of capital for the renewable energy sector.”
The company also put out this infographic about its investments in clean energy:
Google has made over 10 renewable energy investments since 2010. In September, the company announced an agreement with the Grand River Damn Authority to green the energy supply to its Oklahoma data center, including 48 MW of wind energy from the Canadian Hills Wind Project in Oklahoma.