Google, TransCanada ink solar energy deals

Internet giant inks deal to buy four solar power plants in California as TransCanada ventures into field for very first time

Google Inc and TransCanada Corp announced deals to buy solar power projects this week.

 

Google is teaming up with private equity firm KKR & Co to buy four solar plants in California with a total capacity of 88 megawatts from developer Recurrent Energy, which is owned by Sharp Corp.

 

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The deal, whose financial terms were not disclosed, brings Google's total investment in the sector to more than $915 million.

 

Solar installations in the United States have reached record levels this year, with more than 1,000 MW installed through the first nine months of the year, about equal to the output of a large nuclear reactor.

 

Meanwhile, TransCanada, whose efforts to build the Keystone XL pipeline connecting the Canadian province of Alberta's oil sands fields to the US Gulf Coast have been delayed by the Obama administration, announced its first deal in the solar sector.

 

The company said it would pay $470 million to Canadian Solar, which will build nine projects in Ontario. Solar plants in that province receive a "feed-in tariff" that guarantees a higher-than-market price for the electricity produced.

 

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