Google Paves Way
for Sustainable Corporate Leadership, Backing
Clean Energy
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by Ryan Jones
As reported by
Bloomberg News...It's official: Google is
going green. And we're not just talking about
recycling office products at Ampitheatre
Parkway. Google is going green to the tune of
$750 million, recently announcing the internet
giant will be investing in clean energy
projects backed with government incentives.
Google's Director
of Green Business Operations, Rick Needham,
said in a recent interview that as a direct
result of our current times - the "culture",
if you will - Google wants to make things
better. And now that the federal government is
backing green energy projects and offering
corporate tax incentives, Google is stepping
up to the plate. Specifically, Needam said the
company is seeking to play a role in the
deployment of clean energy on a scale that
will eventually lead to lower clean energy
costs, not to mention lower taxes.
Mark Regante, a
partner with a New York law firm representing
lenders of a project that Google is now
backing, said that part of Google's motivation
is to "lead more of corporate America". Tax
benefits are certainly playing a role in this,
which was the basis behind President Obama's
revamped tax incentive for energy-efficient
building investments originally passed by
George W. Bush under the 2005 energy bill.
These tax incentives are now even more
generous, because they transform current
deductions into credits that project
developers can sell for funding, which backers
like Google can then use toward their own tax
bills. Furthermore, projects are rewarded
based on performance improvements, thus
clearing a path for unlimited growth.
Needless to
say, Google is choosing it's clean energy
projects wisely. Hopefully, other
corporations will take note and do the
same. Putting the bulk of it's funds into
solar and wind energy projects, Google has
thus far created a $280 million tax-equity
fund to aid Solar City Corporation's
mission to finance the installation of
photovoltaic panels on homes (the first
time a private corporation other than a
financial firm of utility company has
financially backed a solar company. Solar
City's Chairman,
Elon Musk, agrees this is big for
solar and is eager to get started), as
well as $168 million for construction of BrightSource Energy's Ivanpah project in
the Mojave Desert, which is one of the
first utility-scale solar plants to launch
in over thirty years.
Wind energy
investments - which are proving to be the
bulk of Google's tax equity backing -
include $100 million toward Caithness
Energy LLC's Shepherds Flat Wind Farm in
Oregon, which is the first wind farm in
the United States to use General Electric
wind turbines with permanent magnet
generators; a $157 million leveraged-lease
deal with what will be the largest wind
farm in the United States: Alta Wind
Energy Center in California; providing 42%
of the funding for pre-construction of the
Atlantic Wind Connection - an underground
offshore cable used to transmit electricty
from yet-to-be-built wind farms in the
Atlantic Ocean.
The latter of these is not a tax equity
project, which goes to show, it isn't just
about the tax breaks for Google. Green
energy is not only the right thing to do,
it's smart investing. And I think it's safe
to say that Google is a smart corporation.
On behalf of all the green affiliate
marketers out there, thanks Google...for
leading the way and helping to ensure a
green future sustained by green business.
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