Google's SolarEnergy Gambit（策略）

Google is making itslargest investment yet in clean energy,setting up a $280 million fund tofinance home solar rooftop（屋顶）installations.

The search giant announcedtoday it was teaming up with the Silicon Valley's Solar City一a company chaired by Paypal co-founderand Tesla Motors executive Elon Musk一

in an effort tobreak down the biggest barrier to solar energy adoption:the cost."It's agreat way to support installations going into more homes,"said Googlespokesperson

Parag Chokshi.The$280 million fund is the largest fund ever created for residential solar in theUnited States,according to Solar City,whichhas raised a total of$I.28 billion

in financing capacityduring its five-year history.

Google over the pastseveral years has invested in large,utility-scale wind and solar,enhancedgeothermal（地热）energy,andother renewable energy projects,for a grand

total of more than$680 million in the sector. But today's deal is not only Google's largest foray（突袭）into the sector, it is its firstinvestment in distributed energy. Based

in San Mateo,California,less than 20miles north of Google's Mountain Viewheadquarters,Solar City describes itseff asa solar power service provider. The idea is that people

wantaffordable,clean energy一butthey often can't afford to buy a photovoltaic system upfront. Solar Cityis one of a number of companies that have attempted to help people

overcome that costhurdle（障碍）byleasing,instead of owning their rooftop solar systems.

Solar City's leases and power-purchase agreements tohomeowners,businesses,and schools promise a lower monthly electricitybill(including a set payment to Solar City in

addition to utilitypayments)than customers would get with their usual electricity from thegrid.Solar City not only finances these photovoltaic projects,but also

designs,installs,monitors,andmaintains the systems. Recently,since buying the assets of a company calledBusiness Solutions last year,Solar City has also begunoffering

energy audits andsmall home improvements(like installing programmable thermostats)that can makea big difference in energy use.

Until now,Solar Cityhas financed most of its 15,000 projects through banks,Chief Executive LyndonRive said in an interview. But the problem is only about a half dozen

banks are doingsolar financing,he said.So in order for Solar City's model to achieve"truescale,"it must"unleash the available capital of corporateAmerica,"he said.Rive is

hopeful thatGoogle's move today will set an example for other corporations to make similarinvestments.Google's move isan example for other corporations to make investments on renewable energyprojects.

A.Right

B.Wrong

C.Not mentiond