Google Invests $280 Million in SolarCity (Video)

Google's investment in SolarCity will fund 7,000 to 9,000 home solar arrays

Google and rooftop solar power company SolarCity announced a $280 million investment deal Tuesday, the largest such deal for home-based solar power systems in the United States.

The investment will give San Mateo, Calif-based SolarCity the funding to build and lease solar power systems to a 7,000 to 9,000 homeowners in the 10 states where it operates.

Founded five years ago, SolarCity has 15,000 solar projects around the nation completed or under way. Customers who wish to have the company's solar system installed at their home can pay for it outright, but most choose instead to let SolarCity retain ownership of the equipment and rent back the use of it through monthly solar lease payments.

As SolarCity's financing partner, Google plans to recoup its investment over time through those lease payments.

"We hope to be seen as a model," said Rick Needham, Google's director of green business operations.

Needham wouldn't elaborate on the exact terms of the deal, but said "these investments are designed to earn us a good return on our capital."

Funding arrangements like this are not uncommon in the energy businesses, but they have previously been restricted mostly to utilities and a handful of banks with specialized industry knowledge.

Google's entry into this type of financing is both a sign that more companies may be interested in funding alternative energy ventures and a nod to the fast-growing market in leasing residential solar panels.

"Google is out in front on this," said Nathaniel Bullard, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. "It's a sign of confidence in the space."

Google likes to experiment with clean energy investments -- witness last year's wind farm investment -- but the SolarCity deal marks its first move into the residential market. SolarCity is one of a handful of companies that lease solar panels to homeowners.

The idea behind leasing is to keep things as simple and cheap for the customer as possible.

In SolarCity's case, the customer signs a multi-year agreement with the company and begins writing a monthly check to the firm that's ideally 10% to 20% percent lower than what they were previously paying for their monthly power bill.

Click here to see video

SolarCity then handles the rest -- everything from purchasing and installing the panels to claiming the various tax credits offered by the federal, state, and sometimes even local governments.

Eliminating the often hefty upfront costs for buying a solar system, as well as handling the maintenance and tax issues, has been a boon for the industry. Nationwide, the number of homes installing solar has gone from under 10,000 annually in 2006 to nearly 50,000 in 2010, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

"The biggest constraint is financing," said SolarCity chief executive Lyndon Rive.

Generous government subsidies are the main reason the economics for solar work in the United States. Between federal, state and local incentives, up to 50% of the cost of a solar system can often be subsidized.

The government is funding this industry because it hopes that creating a market will foster technological innovation in the space, driving down the cost of solar panels to the point where they are competitive with fossil fuels.

Rive hopes more companies will follow Google's lead and use some of the trillions in cash they have stockpiled to invest in the clean-energy market.

Google may well be getting a return on its investment, but the company also sees an advantage in promoting cheap, renewable energy. Its server farms eat up massive amounts of electricity.

"Energy drives our businesses, and we want our energy to be clean," said Needham. "Over time renewable energy will be cheaper than fossil fuel. We're doing what we can to make that happen faster."

Article by Steve Hargreaves, CNN Money Tech

Google Invests $168 Million in 392MW Mojave Desert Solar Thermal Plant

 

Google is announcing a $168 million investment in Brightsource Energy's Ivanpah solar power plant in the Mojave desert in California. The solar farm will have a capacity of 392 MW. According to Google, that's the equivalent of "taking more than 90,000 cars off the road over the lifetime of the plant, projected to be more than 25 years."

Google has Invested $250 Million in Clean Energy So Far
 

The solar farm will use heliostat mirrors to concentrate the sun's energy onto a tower where the heat will generate steam that makes a turbine spin. "Power towers are very efficient because all those mirrors focus a tremendous amount of solar energy onto a small area to produce steam at high pressure and temperature (up to 1000 degrees F)."

The Ivanpah Power Tower will be approximately 450 feet tall and will use 173,000 heliostats, each with two mirrors. Construction began last fall and should end up 2013.

Part of Google's motivation is to help the solar power sector reach maturity faster (the more you build, the faster you reach economies of scale)

Google: 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.

Article by Michael Graham Richard, TreeHugger

Vegetable Patches At Work Are A Nice Perk

Some big companies with land to spare are providing vegetable patches for their employees to work on during their breaks and during lunch. It's a nice perk, though a raise might be nicer, and it certainly is good for morale.

In California Google and Yahoo have had organic gardens for a while. But more traditional companies have started to join the trend. Employees get to take home the fresh produce and in some cases the vegetables are served in the company cafeteria.

According to the New York Times, the idea can work in different ways. At Kohl's department stores near Milwaukee, the organic gardens provide vegetables for a local food bank and for the child care centre located on site. Many of the crops from the gardens, including green peppers, beans, cabbage, squash, salad greens pumpkins and tomatoes, are donated to Hunger Task Force.

At PepsiCo, in New York, the company turned over a huge plot to growing peppers and tomatoes. Two hundred employees signed up to work on the field which was the size of two tennis courts. However this year enthusiasm has waned and only 75 volunteers are pulling their peppers and weeds.

In Minneapolis a public relations firm is sponsoring an organic vegetable garden for employees. Called the Dude Ranch, it has inspired a movement called Employee Sponsored Gardens complete with website and full details of this and other gardens. The company donated the land and the employees provide the labor. Three days a week after work, almost two-thirds of the company's employees head off to work in the garden. They take home the produce and leftovers (zucchini anyone) go to the food banks

At Aveda, near Minneapolis, the workers pay $10 for the season and in return they get a share of the bounty. Participation is encouraged but is not necessary.

As gardening grows in popularity, in many cases it is the employees who have requested the gardens. Especially if they see vast amounts of unused land around the building and don't have their own space at home. Some want to do it to help out a local food bank. Some managers see it as a team building activity. As one said: "It takes the politics out of the job, everybody is on the same level in the garden."

Article by Bonnie Alter Courtesy of Treehugger.com