Dive Brief:
- Google will invest $145 million in the 82 megawatt solar PV project SunEdison is building in Southern California, giving Google a total of 17 investments, representing a total investment of $1.5 billion in 2.5 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity.
- SunEdison is overseeing construction of the Regulus project, which will use SunEdison photovoltaic modules and will be owned and operated by the TerraForm Power Inc. (TERP) business unit of SunEdison when it goes online before the end of 2014.
- Term financing for the Regulus project was provided by Prudential Capital Group and Banco Santander SA’s U.S. retail bank on the strength of the project’s 20 year power purchase agreement with offtaker Southern California Edison (SCE).
Dive Insight:
The most recent data available from the California Public Utilities Commission shows SCE was at 21.6% renewables at the end of 2013, behind the states’ two other investor owned utilities. PG&E was at 23.8% and SDG&E was at 23.6%. All three utilities, however, have stated informally that they are on track to meet their 33% renewables by 2020 mandate ahead of schedule.
By the end of 2013, 35% of Google’s electricity came from renewables, with 24% from renewable generation directly owned or produced by Google and 11% purchased from the grid.
Ten of Google’s renewables investments have been in solar in the U.S., South Africa, and Germany. They include utility scale PV, utility scale concentrating solar, and rooftop projects; six have been in wind projects across the U.S; and the last was in a backbone transmission system for Atlantic Coast offshore wind.
