Google is ‘cleaning up’ its act with a vengeance. Google’s plans to shore up its renewable energy commitments got a further boost with the Brightsource Ivanpah project; a 450 foot tall solar power tower located in California’s Mojave Desert. The $168 million dollar investment is reported to be the largest in Google’s history when it comes to renewable energy. The tech giant is a fervent supporter of clean tech. The company’s objective is to develop renewable energy to a extent that it becomes cheaper than coal. The company has so far spent quarter of a million dollars on clean energy and is committed to it till 2030.
The Google company blog has this to say –
“We need smart capital to transform our energy sector and build a clean energy future. This is our largest investment to date, and we’ve now invested over $250 million in the clean energy sector. We’re excited about Ivanpah because our investment will help deploy a compelling solar energy technology that provides reliable clean energy, with the potential to significantly reduce costs on future projects.”
Other significant plans include developing the Shepherd’s Flat Wind Farm, outside of Arlington, Oregon at a cost of $100 Million dollars. To be completed by 2012, it is expected to be the world’s largest wind farm. The company blog says that the energy from Shepherds Flat will be “sold under long term agreements to Southern California Edison.” Google is just one of the giants in this ambitious project which could be a pathbreaker to developing large scale commercial renewable energy projects around the world. General Electric and Sumitomo Corporation of America are two of the other well known green energy companies that have a presence here.
Google says –
“This project is exciting to us not only because of its size and scale, but also because it uses advanced technology. This will be the first commercial wind farm in the U.S. to deploy, at scale, turbines that use permanent magnet generators—tech-speak for evolutionary turbine technology that will improve efficiency, reliability and grid connection capabilities.”
