Google Teams With SolarCity To Make Solar Affordable For Home Owners

Google is big into things outside of its traditional purview of search technology. One of the categories that Google has invested heavily in is solar power. Google purchased 49% of a German solar power plant in April of this year and is working hard on solar initiatives at home too. One of the initiatives for solar with Google is the new partnership with SolarCity. The partnership allows a discount to Googlers for the installation of the solar panel tech on their homes.

The discount is a side effect of a $280 million investment in SolarCity by Google to help finance more solar installations around the country. Google also notes that this is the largest clean energy project investment it has made so far and brings the total invested in clean energy to $680 million. Google also offers a bit of detail on one employee that took advantage of the program with SolarCity.

The partnership with Google and SolarCity allows the user to lease or pay up front for the solar system. Google engineer Michael Flaster will save $100 monthly on his electric bill this year and more than $16,000 on the 15-year lease of equipment after figuring in the cost of the lease payment and lower energy bills. The exact cost of the solar system isn't offered.