Google Inc. and Citigroup Inc. are investing an additional $204 million to finance another phase of a California wind farm.
The companies said Wednesday that each will invest $102 million in Alta V, a 168-megawatt project. That's on top of the combined $110 million in financing that the companies said last month they would put into the Alta Wind Energy Center wind farm in California's Tehachapi Mountains. In total, Alta will have a capacity of 1,550 megawatts, or enough to power 450,000 homes. That's nearly twice as much as the largest operating wind energy installation in the U.S.
Google has been investing hundreds of millions in wind energy as it seeks reliable new ways to power its massive server farms, or data centers, which are notorious power hogs. Google has also invested in solar energy. The latest financing of the Alta farm brings Google's total clean energy investments to more than $500 million.
Citigroup and Google are committing to buying the wind projects at the start of commercial operations and leasing them back to Terra-Gen Power, an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners and Global Infrastructure Partners.
