23 Dec at 11 AM
TransCanada and Google Inc have both announced plans to purchase solar power projects, only days after billionaire Warren Buffet made his latest deal in the sector. The price of installing the green energy systems is at an all time low, and the panels themselves fell in price by more than 40 per cent in 2010. \r\n\r\nDue to this, share prices across the sector have lowered dramatically as solar panel manufacturers have seen their profit margins eroded. Record levels of solar installations have been made in the USA this year, with the output of more than 1,000 megawatts to September equal to that of a single nuclear reactor.\r\n\r\nThe KKR & Co equity firm have agreed to team up with Google to buy four plants from developer Recurrent Energy in California. Google’s investment in the industry now tallies up to more than $915 million, although the financial terms of the latest deal have not yet been disclosed. \r\n\r\nTransCanada also announced its first deal in solar energy. The company wants to build a pipeline connecting the US Gulf Coast to Alberta’s oil sands fields, but has had its plans delayed by the Obama government. It has now invested $470 million in Canadian Solar and plans to build a number of new projects in Ontaria, which enjoys a guarantee of higher-than-marker price for solar produced electricity.\r\n\r\nCanadian Solar shares went up 29 per cent on the announcement, sitting at $2.85 each in premarket trading. Google also gained 0.8 per cent bringing it to $626.88 dollars a share.\r\n\r\nLast week, MidAmerican Energy Holdings, the energy company run by Buffet, said it is to buy a 49 per cent stake in NRG Energy’s Agua Caliente plant in Arizona. A week before, it also purchased a project from First Solar, which also has a stake in the Agua Caliente plant.
