Deal with Silicon Valley’s SolarCity is search giant’s largest clean tech investment.
Josie Garthwaite
for National Geographic News
Google is making its largest investment yet in clean energy, setting up a $280 million fund to finance home
The search giant announced today it was teaming up with the Silicon Valley’s SolarCity—a company chaired by Paypal co-founder and Tesla Motors executive Elon Musk—in an effort to break down the biggest barrier to solar energy adoption: the cost.
“It’s a great way to support installations going into more homes,” said Google spokesperson Parag Chokshi.
The $280 million fund is the largest fund ever created for residential solar in the United States, according to SolarCity, which has raised a total of $1.28 billion in financing capacity during its five-year history.
Google over the past several years has invested in large, utility-scale wind and solar, enhanced geothermal energy, and other renewable energy projects, for a grand total of more than $680 million in the sector. But today’s deal is not only Google’s largest foray into the sector, it is its first investment in distributed energy.
Leasing Instead of Owning
Based in San Mateo, California, less than 20 miles north of Google’s Mountain View headquarters, SolarCity describes itself as a solar power service provider. The idea is that people want affordable, clean energy—but they often can’t afford to buy a photovoltaic system upfront.
SolarCity is one of a number of companies that have attempted to help people overcome that cost hurdle by leasing, instead of owning their rooftop solar systems.
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