Google is helping to convert a one-time oil field into a solar power plant.
The Internet search company is providing $145 million in financing so that SunEdison can build the plant north of Los Angeles in Kern County.
“There’s something a little poetic about creating a renewable resource on land that once creaked with oil wells,” Google said in a blog post-Wednesday.
The plant will be fitted with nearly 250,000 SunEdison solar panels and generate enough energy to power 10,000 homes. Google said the project will bring 650 jobs to the area.
SunEdison Inc. expects the plant to be operational later this year and supply power to utility company Southern California Edison. The plant is owned by TerraForm Power Inc., a subsidiary of SunEdison, based in Beltsville, Maryland.
It is the 17th renewable energy project Google has invested in. It has committed to investing more than $1.5 billion in projects around the country, the Mountain View, California-based company said. Shares of SunEdison, based in St. Peters, Missouri, rose more than 3 percent in pre-market trading.
