Google has invested $145 million to build a massive solar power plant in Kern County in California.
The tech giant has contracted semiconductor and silicon wafer manufacturer SunEdison to equip the facility with state-of-the-art solar panels, according to the Huffington Post.
Nick Coons, Google's renewable energy principal, made the announcement in the company's Googleblog.
According to Coons, the plant and SunEdison's panels will generate 82MW of solar energy and can power 10,000 homes.
The large investment and the plant's size is a way for Google to make a huge impact in the production of clean energy. In addition, the site the company has chosen was formerly used for oil wells.
"Our investment in the Regulus solar project will give new life to a long-valued piece of land, and there's something a little poetic about creating a renewable source on land that once creaked with oil wells," Coons stated.
"Over the years, this particular site in California has gone from 30 oil wells to five as it was exhausted of profitable fossil fuel reserves," he added. "The land sat for some time and today we're ready to spiff things up."
In addition to producing alternative sources of energy, Google's power plant in California will also generate hundreds of jobs.
"With the help of our $145 million equity commitment, SunEdison is draping it in high-tech, sleek panels that collect energy from the sun, while bringing 650 jobs to the Kern County area and 82MW of clean energy to the grid," Coons stated.
All in all, Google has spent over $1.5 billion for the development of facilities that supply renewable and clean energy. This includes the company's $75 million 50MW wind farm Iowa, Pop Herald reported.
"We're continuing looking for newer, bigger and better projects that help us create a clean energy future," Coons explained.
"The more than $1.5 billion we've brought to these projects to date not only helps provide renewable energy to the grid and to the public, but as they perform, they allow us to invest in more renewable energy projects," he added.