TechPulse 360

Google, the online search engine, is taking another big step into the clean-tech business.

Google's target is medium- and large-scale projects, says Google's Dan Reicher

The Internet titan announced on Monday evening that it would begin providing financing for solar farms, wind farms and other alternative energy developments.

Google’s Dan Reicher, director of climate and energy initiatives, declined to say how much money the Silicon Valley company has set aside. But he described the targets as medium- and large-scale projects.

The initiative, which has been the subject of rumors for several weeks, comes as a surprise from a company that makes its money selling online advertising.

Project finance is a potentially risky and negotiation-intensive business that has traditionally been left to major banks and deep-pocketed private investors. Contracts are difficult and tedious to arrive at and paybacks occur over decades, not years. However with many of these traditional lenders having pulled back during the downturn, Google sees an opportunity, says Reicher.

He said the company is reviewing projects and continues to iron out the details of whether it will work in syndicates or as backers of institutions playing a more hands-on role,

“There is a huge range to look at,” Reicher said at a Google-sponsored clean-tech event in San Francisco. “We need to get started.”

The clean-energy markets will certainly welcome Google’s cash, which at the end of the September was $22 billion. Over the past year, project funding has nearly ground to a halt, loosening a bit only recently, and many of the alternative energy farms simply have not been built.

Reicher said the Google program will kick off shortly.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 10:04 pm and is filed under news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.