Google has announced that it will be backing the largest wind power project in Africa, only two years after the company said that it was donating $12 million to the project.
The backing of the project, called the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, was announced at a conference in Washington, D.C. The project is based in northern Kenya, and offers enough wind-powered energy to power a massive 2 million homes.
This represents the 22nd investment that Google has made in clean energy, with the company having donated as much as $2 billion in total. Most of these investments have been in the U.S., however the company says that it also wants to invest in the developing world. This new investment represents a massive 12.5 percent stake in the project.
"The fastest-growing economies are here, and there's a strong need for critical power," said Rick Needham, Google's director of energy and sustainability. "Economies are being held back because they don't have enough power, and yet they have wonderful renewable resources."
While Google is backing other clean energy products, it is also working on its own projects, with the company buying huge amounts of clean energy to power its massive data centers. In fact, according to Business Renewables Center (PDF), Google is among the largest buyers of clean energy in the corporate world.
Google itself doesn't yet operate a data center in Africa, although it's almost certain that at some point in the near future it will. Google is among a number of large companies including Facebook that have shown big interest in Africa and other developing regions.
Until Google does operate a data center in Africa, though, the company wants to continue to promote clean energy in the continent. The Lake Turkana Wind Power Project almost had to shut down back in 2012 when the World Bank withdrew its support. To save it, however, the African Development Bank stepped in. When it is fully operational, projected for mid-2016, it is expected to supply up to 17 percent of Kenya's power needs.
Via: Wired
