Buffett Ready to Double $15 Billion Solar, Wind Bet

Source: By Noah Buhayar and Jim Polson, Bloomberg • Posted: Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
While utilities don’t offer the sort of outsize returns of businesses that Warren Buffett favored earlier in his career, he has said he likes the industry because it provides opportunities for reinvestment and further acquisitions.
Warren Buffett briefly lost track of how many billions of dollars hisBerkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) is spending to build wind and solar power in the U.S. That didn’t stop him from vowing to double the outlay.

Describing the company’s increasing investment in renewable energy at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual convention in Las Vegasyesterday, Buffett had to rely on a deputy, Greg Abel, to remind him just how much they’d committed: $15 billion.

Without missing a beat, Buffett responded: “There’s another $15 billion ready to go, as far as I’m concerned.”

Such bold remarks are common for the Berkshire chairman and chief executive officer. He frequently talks about hunting for “elephant”-size acquisitions and making multibillion-dollar stock purchases.