Google, Norwegian power company Scatec Solar and Prudential Capital Group have joined together to build an 80MW facility in Utah.

The solar facility will be Utah’s largest solar system on record. Google is the tax equity investor in the project which means it will pay a portion of the project’s cost (reported to be about $157 million) in return for tax incentives and a share of the facility’s income. Prudential Capital Group is said to be the debt financer for the remaining amount.

The US $188 million project will see around 325 000 solar panels connected to an existing transmission line. The facility, known as The Utah Red Hills Renewable Energy Park, is expected to generate 210 million kW hours of electricity a year – enough to power around 18 500 homes. The electricity will be exported to PacifiCorp’s Rocky Mountain Power under a 20 year power purchase agreement (PPA). The project is expected to be completed at the end of the year.

“When complete, the Red Hills solar plant will be Scatec Solar’s largest developed and constructed project in North America,” says CEO Raymond Carlsen.

Scatec has vast experience with the company indicating that it has 219MW of solar capacity currently operational worldwide together with a project backlog of 214MW and a pipeline of 680MW.

This marks Google’s 18th investment in renewable energy projects – they have now invested over $1.5 billion in solar and wind projects. Their investments have a total of 2.5GW’s and produce more than 6 billion kWh each year. Google says that the amount its investments produce is far more than the company consumes.

“We’re helping create a clean energy future that’s better for our business and the environment,” says Google.