After ruling the internet for years, Google has now stepped into the lucrative solar power business, with Google’s official blog announcing the big news of the internet company making its largest ever investment (some $168 million) in building the world’s largest solar tower power plant.
According to the blog, the plant to be built in cooperation with Brightsource, in the Mojave Desert of California, is expected to generate an astounding 392 gross MW of clean, solar energy. Put simply,
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 believes that this investment will not only help provide reliable clean energy, but also reduce costs on future projects.
Officially called the Ivanpah Power Tower, after the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) it is fitted with, the tower is expected to be about 450 feet tall and use 173,000 heliostats, with two mirrors each. Being constructed by Bechtel, the project has been underway since October 2010, and is expected to be finished at the earliest by 2013.
And according to Google this is just the beginning, with the company already having invested over $250 million in the clean energy projects, more big announcements are expected shortly. The company hopes that,
Investing in Ivanpah spurs continued development and deployment of this promising technology while encouraging other companies to make similar investments in renewable energy.
However, as of now the going is not all smooth, with some environmental conservation groups claiming that the solar tower may damage the surrounding ecosystem and its inhabitants, which just happen to be an endangered breed of tortoise.
