Green Wombat

Overshadowed by Google’s jump
into the renewable energy business on Tuesday was Hewlett-Packard’s
more modest move to go green by installing a 1-megawatt solar array at
its San Diego facility, buying wind power for its Ireland operations
and subsidizing employees’ home solar systems.

In Silicon Valley these days putting a whopping solar array up on
your roof is akin to having the coolest corporate jet or your CEO
back-ordered for a Tesla Roadster. Google (GOOG), of course, has the
biggest, a 1.6-megawatt monster that covers buildings and carports at
the Googleplex in Mountain View. Not to be outdone, Applied Materials
(AMAT) is planning an even larger solar system for its headquarters in
neighboring Santa Clara.

But there’s more at stake here than green bragging rights. Companies
like HP (HPQ) are realizing that tapping renewable energy can also be
good for the bottom line. Take HP’s solar array in San Diego, for
instance. The 5,000-panel system carries no capital costs for HP as the
array will be financed and operated by a third-party affiliated with
solar cell maker SunPower (SPWR). The Silicon Valley company will
install the array and perform maintenance for 15 years while HP
purchases the electricity produced by the solar system at a guaranteed
below-market rate. That gives the company a hedge against rising energy
costs. (HP thinks it’ll save $750,000 over 15 years.) HP also retains
ownership of any potentially marketable renewable energy credits
associated with the array while the financier can take advantage of
California’s solar subsidies.

SunPower wasn’t disclosing the identity of that financier when Green
Wombat inquired on Tuesday, but this morning the company announced a
$200 million deal with Morgan Stanley (MS) to provide financing for
solar installations and power purchase agreements like the one HP
signed. SunPower and Morgan Stanley have formed a jointly owned holding
company to finance SunPower’s solar systems for customers, with the
Wall Street firm kicking in up to $190 million and SunPower putting up
as much as $10 million.

In Ireland, HP will buy a year’s worth of clean electricity
generated by Airtricity’s European wind farms, saving the company an
estimated $40,000 in 2008. Electricity generated by Airtricity’s wind
farms is fed into Ireland’s national power grid rather than directly to
HP facilities. But the additional power generated by the wind farms, as
well as the solar electricity eventually produced by the San Diego
array, will eliminate tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the
atmosphere.

Last, SunPower will give HP employees a $2,000 rebate if they
install the company’s residential solar systems, with HP providing
another $2,000. That’s on top of state rebates under the California
Solar Initiative program.