Google Inc. is investing $200 million in a Texas wind farm, the Internet search leader's latest big bet on the future alternative energy.
The commitment to the Spinning Spur Wind Project announced Wednesday brings Google's total investments in alternative energy to about $1.2 billion. The company has backed 11 different projects with a combined capacity to produce 2 gigawatts of electricity — enough to power about 500,000 U.S. homes for a year.
Google has been pouring money into alternative energy since 2010 because it believes the investments will prove profitable as the demand for cleaner sources of power rises amid increasing concerns about the pollution caused by oil and coal. The company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., is consuming more power as it builds more data centers to run its Internet search engine and other online services used by more than 1 billion people throughout the world.
The Texas wind far is located in Oldham County, Texas, about 35 miles from Amarillo in the state's panhandle section. The wind farm, developed by EDF Renewable Energy, can produce up to 161 megawatts of electricity.
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