Google has made another investment into green energy, giving Shepherd’s Flat Wind Farm in the US US$100m in funding.
Google’s co-investors include Sumitomo Corporation of America and Tyr Energy.
Shepherd’s Flat is still being constructed in Arlington, Oregon, and will be completed in 2012. It will produce 845 MW of energy which will power 235,000 homes, according to Google.
This commercial wind farm will be the first within the US to deploy turbines that use permanent magnet generators at scale, in order to improve efficiency, reliability and grid connection capabilities.
The electricity produced at this wind farm will also be sold to Southern California Edison under long-term agreements to help California meet its renewable energy goals.
In total, Google has invested US$350m in clean energy. Its largest investment amounted to US$168m for the BrightSource Ivanpah solar power tower in the Mojave Desert in California.
In Europe, Google invested €3.5m on a solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Germany.
