GE invests in solar power plants in accelerating expansion of company clean tech portfolio

GE Energy Financial Services unit just invested $100 million in a 127-megawatt solar farm located near tiny Arlington, Arizona, population 194, about 40 miles west of Phoenix. Last fall, the unit said that it would help finance a 550-megawatt solar farm located across the state line, near Desert Center, California, population 204. The power plants are as large as the towns are little. Together the two solar projects will generate more than half the amount of power produced by one unit of the nearby Palo Verde nuclear power plant. GE Energy Financial Services has committed over $8 billion to renewable energy, with funding commitments for solar projects now reaching $1.4 billion. That’s more than twice the amount at the start of 2011.