Google puts $75 million into wind farm, $1B into renewables
updated 03:36 pm EST, Thu November 15, 2012
Google's investment in renewable energy approaches $1 billion
Google announced today that it was making an equity investment of $75 million in a 50MW wind farm near Des Moines, Iowa. The Rippey project, located in Greene County, is expected to power more than 15,000 homes in Iowa with turbines produced by Nordex USA in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The new investment brings the search giant's total committed investment in the renewable energy sector to nearly $1 billion.
The Rippey project will was developed by RPM Access, and is part of Google's ongoing effort to increase the amount of renewable energy going into the power grid in Iowa, where Google operates a data center. In 2010, the company signed a long-term contract to purchase wind energy from NextEra Energy Resources. The Rippey project will sell its energy directly to the Central Iowa Power Cooperative, which will deliver energy to local consumers.
A post on the Official Google Blog points out that this $75 million investment brings Google's total investment in renewable energy sources to more than $990 million. Google also has invested in rooftop solar, large-scale photovoltaic plants in California, residential solar, and Atlantic wind power, among other projects.
