Google has unveiled a new green global product, Project Sunroof, which aims to make it easier for people to install solar panels in their homes.
The move by the US technology giant caps a year in which there has been a surge in the number of large companies entering similar renewable power purchasing transactions, including Amazon, General Motors and Facebook.
Google’s plans were unveiled on the fourth day of the UN conference in Paris, which is due to strike a new global climate accord at the end of next week.
Google has signed contracts to buy power from wind and solar plants in the US, Sweden and Chile for between 10 and 20 years, a move it said would help the company reach its goal of powering 100 per cent of its operations with clean energy, up from 37 per cent last year.
The wind and solar plants are to be operated by companies including Duke Energy of the US, Spain’s Acciona and Sweden’s Eolus Vind.
Google’s move should be financially beneficial for the company because it offers price certainty for a prolonged period, said Michael Terrell, head of global energy and infrastructure.
“We’re doing these deals not only because they are good for mitigating our carbon impact,” he said on Thursday.
“As prices for renewables have come down, it’s really started to make a lot of business sense.”
For renewable power generators, securing a long-term purchasing agreement with a large company is often vital to getting a new wind or solar farm off the ground.
Google has been entering such deals for some years and has also invested directly in renewable plants, taking its cumulative clean energy investments to $2bn.
Mr Terrell said he believed Google had helped pioneer a market for corporate clean power purchases that has more than doubled in the past two years in terms of total contracted generating capacity. It first entered a large-scale renewable power purchase agreement with a wind farm in Iowa in 2010.
Apple, Walmart and Cisco are among the other prominent companies to enter the market in the past year, but Google remains by far the largest player.
The amount of generating capacity covered by such contracts has reached 2,800 megawatts this year, according to figures Google released.
The plants covered by Google’s announcement will have a combined capacity of 842 megawatts, the equivalent of a medium-sized coal power plant.
The announcement is expected to be followed by others during the conference, which has already seen Bill Gates and other technology billionaires join forces in a new coalition that plans to plough billions of dollars into clean energy research and development.
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Project Sunroof, which has already launched in the United States in the cities of Boston, San Francisco and Fresno,
Google's effort to make solar power simple and understandable.
Simply by entering your address into Project Sunroof's website, Google can show you how much usable sunlight you get per year, which parts of your house get the most sun, how much room you have for solar panels, and most importantly, how much money you would save by switching.
Google's effort to make solar power simple and understandable.
Simply by entering your address into Project Sunroof's website, Google can show you how much usable sunlight you get per year, which parts of your house get the most sun, how much room you have for solar panels, and most importantly, how much money you would save by switching.
although not in the UK yet, Google wants to take it across the US , currently in 35 states , and then across the world, in due course.
Google Cop21 2015 Paris
Google on Thursday unveiled plans to buy electricity generated by a string of new wind and solar farms around the world, in one of the biggest renewable energy deals made by a company outside the utility sector.
The move by the US technology giant caps a year in which there has been a surge in the number of large companies entering similar renewable power purchasing transactions, including Amazon, General Motors and Facebook.
Google’s plans were unveiled on the fourth day of the UN conference in Paris, which is due to strike a new global climate accord at the end of next week.
Google has signed contracts to buy power from wind and solar plants in the US, Sweden and Chile for between 10 and 20 years, a move it said would help the company reach its goal of powering 100 per cent of its operations with clean energy, up from 37 per cent last year.
The wind and solar plants are to be operated by companies including Duke Energy of the US, Spain’s Acciona and Sweden’s Eolus Vind.
Google’s move should be financially beneficial for the company because it offers price certainty for a prolonged period, said Michael Terrell, head of global energy and infrastructure.
“We’re doing these deals not only because they are good for mitigating our carbon impact,” he said on Thursday.
“As prices for renewables have come down, it’s really started to make a lot of business sense.”
For renewable power generators, securing a long-term purchasing agreement with a large company is often vital to getting a new wind or solar farm off the ground.
Google has been entering such deals for some years and has also invested directly in renewable plants, taking its cumulative clean energy investments to $2bn.
It did not disclose a value for its latest deals.
Mr Terrell said he believed Google had helped pioneer a market for corporate clean power purchases that has more than doubled in the past two years in terms of total contracted generating capacity. It first entered a large-scale renewable power purchase agreement with a wind farm in Iowa in 2010.
Apple, Walmart and Cisco are among the other prominent companies to enter the market in the past year, but Google remains by far the largest player.
The amount of generating capacity covered by such contracts has reached 2,800 megawatts this year, according to figures Google released.
The plants covered by Google’s announcement will have a combined capacity of 842 megawatts, the equivalent of a medium-sized coal power plant.
The announcement is expected to be followed by others during the conference, which has already seen Bill Gates and other technology billionaires join forces in a new coalition that plans to plough billions of dollars into clean energy research and development.
Further Reading
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