Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Google, Japanese invest $500 million in wind farm

Afp
Monday 18 April 2011 19:00 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Google and the subsidiaries of two Japanese companies are investing $500 million in a wind farm being built in the northwestern US state of Oregon.

Google said in a blog post Monday it was investing $100 million in the Shepherds Flat Wind Farm, expected to be the largest in the world when it is completed in 2012.

Google said the wind firm is intended to produce 845 megawatts of energy, enough to power more than 235,000 homes.

Co-investors in the $2 billion project are Sumitomo Corp. of America, a subsidiary of Japan's Sumitomo Corporation, and Tyr Energy, a subsidiary of Japan's ITOCHU Corp.

General Electric unit GE Energy Financial Services and developer Caithness Energy are among the other owners of the wind farm under construction near Arlington, Oregon.

"The new investors contribute a wealth of energy expertise, innovation and strong financial profiles to the landmark Shepherds Flat wind farm project," Les Gelber, a partner at Caithness Energy, said in a statement.

Google said the electricity produced at Shepherds Flat will be sold to Southern California Edison.

The Mountain View, California-based Internet company said the Shepherds Flat investment brings Google's total investment in clean energy to more than $350 million.

Google last month announced it has invested $168 million to help complete the construction of one of the world's biggest solar energy power plants in California's Mojave Desert.

"We remain on the lookout for more projects that make business sense and will help all of us take advantage of clean, renewable energy," Rick Needham, Google's director of green business operations said.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in