Online search and advertising giant Google is making a $94 million investment in four solar energy farms near Sacramento in California in partnership with investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, bringing the company’s portfolio of clean energy projects to almost $1 billion.
Google, on its Green Blog, said that it will spend $94 million on the projects.
They also will receive equity from SunTap Energy RE LLC, a venture formed by KKR to invest in US solar projects.
The projects are expected to provide electricity to power more than 13,000 average US homes.
The electricity produced by three of the projects is contracted for 20 years with the utility district, Google said
Construction on three of the four projects will be completed early next year, and the fourth will come on line later in the year.
KKR said SunTap represents its first US renewable energy investment. It also has invested in a French wind farm operator and a Spanish solar energy company.
Google said it has invested more than $915 million in clean energy projects, including $800 million this year.
Google has invested in wind farms in North Dakota, California and Oregon, solar projects in California and Germany, and a project off the East coast of the US meant to help make offshore wind farms possible.
It has been a busy year of clean energy investment for Google, which has put more than $880 million into the sector this year alone.