Search giant Google will begin constructing the nation’s largest solar electricity system on its Mountain View campus, the company said today.
Panels will be built for Google’s entire Mountain View campus, decking the roofs of its four main buildings plus two that are nearby. With a total capacity of 1.6 megawatts • enough to supply 1,000 average California homes • the Google system will be the largest solar installation on any U.S. corporate campus, and will be among the five largest installations in in the world.
It easily exceeds Microsoft’s 480-kilowatt solar panel system in Mountain View, unveiled in April, not far Google’s campus.
Andrew Beebe(EI), David Radcliffe(Google)
Google signed the contract with start-up Energy Innovations in Pasadena. That company helped design the project, and integrate its various components. The 9,212 solar panels used will be provided by Sharp Electronics. A majority will be placed on the rooftops. Other panels have been built on structures in Google parking lots that will, as a byproduct, provide shaded parking. The solar energy will be used to power several of Google’s Mountain View office facilities, and will make up about 30 percent of the Googleplex’s peak energy needs.
Energy Innovations won a competitive bid for the Google project, based on a combination of factors including price, cultural fit with Google’s environmental goals and willingness to question prevailing norms with innovative technology, David Radcliffe, VP of Real Estate for Google, told VentureBeat today.
To be clear, Google will not be using Energy Innovation’s “concentration” technology. EI is developing solar panels that track the sun as it moves, with mirrors that concentrate the sunlight for the photovoltaic process, but that is not part of the Google deal.
The contract win by Energy Innovations follows an announcement today by a competing southern California firm, Practical Instruments, that it had raised $8 million in venture backing. That company’s founder, Brad Hines, said he left Energy Innovations two years ago because it was having difficulty selling its unconventionally shaped panels. (Installers are used to the plat panel shapes produced by the likes of Sharp, SolarPower and others — the type you see in images here).
The project is completed in spring. More information is here.
Below is a 3D rendering of the project, created using Google Earth and Sketch Up:
8 Comments
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Mr.Ramesh Divekar India. said:
This is magnificent, true to the reputation of Google.
I have myself designed and marketed some small PV products. Your installation will show the light, just like it shows us the light of knowledge/information on any subject “under the sun.” Hearty congratulations !! -
ADP said:
Love to hear news of corporate responsibility.
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Aj said:
I met Andrew Friendly few months ago and he gave me demo of sunflower systems. They really are innovative … saving you on cost with improved productivity.
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Guigo said:
this step is one of the “pushers” for the solar-powered technologies, Google knows what to do, just like the X-prize did with cheap space flight. Let’s wait and see who will follow, serious industries involved..
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Joe said:
Is this just a PR campaign or do they expect to save money here. If this is just a PR campaign I believe we must question the ethics of spending shareholders money this way.
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Al said:
I wish I had, like Google, more money than I had to reasonably account for.
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Decking said:
Hello webmaster! I was surfing the internet Thursday afternoon during my break, and found your blog by searching MSN for decking. This is a topic I have great interest in, and follow it closely. I liked your insight on s, and it made for good reading. Keep up the good work…
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Alex said:
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10 Trackbacks
1:08 am
Planblog » Blog Archive » Google goes solar said:
[...] Venturebeat reports: Google builds largest solar installation in U.S. — oh, and bigger than Microsoft Search giant Google will begin constructing the nation’s largest solar electricity system on its Mountain View campus, the company said today. [...]
7:08 am
Google Chases The Sun - Internet Insider Report said:
[...] Matt Marshall at Venture Beat noted that the planned 1.6 megawatt solar energy project “easily exceeds Microsoft’s 480-kilowatt solar panel system in Mountain View, unveiled in April, not far Google’s campus.” [...]
1:36 pm
Googles goes solar said:
[...] Google just announced that it is planning to build a massive solar power installation at its Mountain View campus – one of the top 5 solar projects in the world, but more importantly, bigger than microsoft’s. [...]
2:38 pm
Reduce consumption and generate electricity « Kiyo’s Blog said:
[...] Energy costs are a major concern at Google. Not only does Google call for more efficient power supply standard, but they also announced that they plan to build the largest solar installation in US. Good effort in reducing the environmental impact as a company. I did not know Microsoft had already invested on solar system. [...]
10:08 pm
Snarkuchu » Late breaking news said:
[...] Matt Marshall at Venture Beat noted that the planned 1.6 megawatt solar energy project “easily exceeds Microsoft’s 480-kilowatt solar panel system in Mountain View, unveiled in April, not far Google’s campus.” [...]
8:15 am
VentureBeat Wire » Energy Innovations loses another employee, despite Google solar deal said:
[...] We’re not sure what is happening, but Energy Innovations has lost another employee, just days after announcing its contract to build the largest corporate solar installation in the U.S. at Google. [...]
7:42 pm
VentureBeat » Google on verge of becoming Silicon Valley’s biggest….but getting dummer too? said:
[...] And you thought last week’s Googleplex solar power announcement was big? — Google just announced a 1.6 MW solar system it is building for the Googleplex. That makes it the largest corporate installation in the U.S. Now we learn they really want to install 10MW, to make the company “carbon neutral.” This leak from Google Blogescoped has a good summary, via a leaked internal memo, of Google’s other goals. [...]
12:55 pm
VentureBeat » Update on VentureBeat’s high-end jobs said:
[...] –Bing, a stealth Palo Alto start-up run by industry veteran Eric Hahn, looks for ace software developer. (This is a company no one has reported on before.) –Tabula, a Santa Clara start-up, is hiring aggressively, also wants some software developers, but also a design architect and a circuit designer. –First Round Capital, the seed venture capital firm run by Josh Kopelman and Rob Hayes, is looking for a venture analyst. –Energy Innovations, the solar technology company that just signed a deal with Google to introduce the nation’s largest commercial installment, is looking for sales and marketing people. –Ad network company AdMob is looking for a software engineer; Amazon’s search start-up, A9.com, is looking for a product manager; and SearchForce is looking for a software engineer. Tagged jobs, VentureBoard VentureBeat Community [...]
9:45 am
Real Life » Der Beweis: Google will die Weltherrschaft said:
[...] sieht aus, wie eine lockere kleine PR-Geschichte: Google baut eine Solarkraft-Anlage, die größer ist als Solaranlage des Konkurrenten [...]
2:07 pm
Microsoft envisage d’utiliser des panneaux solaires - About datacenter said:
[...] kilowatts. Quatre mois plus tard, Google a dévoilé un encore plus grand projet solaire sur les toits de son Googleplex, à Mountain View. Google a dévoilé son système de 9212 panneaux solaires qui peuvent produire [...]