USA - Internet search engine giant invests in North Dakota wind farms

Google Inc. has bought a $38.8 million stake in two North Dakota wind farms — an investment that a state regulator believes will spur more interest in the state's growing wind energy industry.

Google spokesman Jamie Yood said it was the Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet company's first direct investment in a renewable energy project. He called North Dakota "a tremendous wind resource."

"We figured this makes financial sense for us and allows us to accelerate deployment of clean energy," Yood said Friday.

The wind farms — one in eastern North Dakota and the other in the central part of the state — are operated by Juno Beach, Fla.-based NextEra Energy Resources LLC. Together they generate about 170 megawatts of power, enough to power about 55,000 homes, Yood said.

NextEra spokesman Steve Stengel said the projects include 33 turbines that generate 49.5 megawatts in northern Burleigh County, north of Bismarck, and 80 turbines that generate 120 megawatts in Griggs and Steele counties in eastern North Dakota.

NextEra announced this week that it had sold $190 million of membership interest in the wind farms, which are part of its Peace Garden Wind subsidiary.

"Google was one of a number of entities that invested in that," Stengel said. He declined to say how many investors were involved in the project, or if the company was the biggest.

North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Tony Clark said Google's interest validates the state's wind energy potential.

"It's not a lot of money and it's not that many megawatts," Clark said of Google's investment and the overall project. "The important thing is Google itself is making that investment and it's their first foray into this industry.

"The fact it's happening in North Dakota could be the harbinger of other companies coming to the state," he said.

North Dakota has about 1,200 megawatts of power generated from wind turbines, and another 95 megawatts under construction, Clark said. North Dakota had no wind farms 10 years ago, he said.

The Washington, D.C.-based American Wind Energy Association rates North Dakota as having the nation's greatest wind energy potential, although the state ranks only 10th in wind power output.