Google has announced today its very first clean energy project investment in Europe.

The search engine giant is pumping €3.5 million (£3.06m) in a solar photovoltaic power plant in Brandenburg an der Havel (near Berlin), Germany. The site was used as a training ground by the Russian military until the early 90’s.

The facility has only recently been completed as is located on 116 acres near the German capital. The power plant has a peak capacity of 18.65MWp, making it one of the largest in Germany.

The transaction still requires formal approval of the German competition authorities and is subject to other customary closing conditions.

Google have agreed to jointly-invest with German private equity company, Capital Stage for this project.

In 2010, Google invested $38.8 million in two wind farms located in North Dakota, USA.