Google Buying Into Massive African Wind Farm

(RTTNews) - Google Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) has agreed to buy a 12.5 percent stake in a wind project in Kenya's Lake Turkana from Danish company Vestas Wind Systems A/S, as the tech giant continues to expand its investment in green energy.

Google will buy the stake after the completion of the project in 2017. The wind project will be the Africa's largest wind park and will generate around 1,400 Gwh or about 15 percent of Kenya's electricity needs based on current generation capacity, Vestas said.

"We are making a commitment to invest in Lake Turkana because it makes financial sense, but also because it has the potential to have a massive impact on Kenya's grid, helping to spur the deployment of renewable energy in one of the world's fastest-growing countries", said John Woolard, Vice President, Energy at Google.

Google's investment in the Lake Turkana wind project will be its 22nd renewable energy project investment overall and second in Africa. Google has invested about $2 billion in clean energy initative until now.