Google plans new mirror for cheaper solar power

Search giant Google wants to reduce the costs involved in building solar thermal plants and is developing its own mirror technology to help achieve the aim.

Speaking at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, Google's green energy czar Bill Weihl said it was investing in companies and researching ways to produce renewable energy within a few years.

The company said it expected to be able to demonstrate some working mirror technology in the next few months, but there was still a lot of work left to do on issues such as on the impact of wear and tear on reflective surfaces.

"We're not there yet," he said. "I'm very hopeful we will have mirrors that are cheaper than what companies in the space are using..."

Weihl added that Google is also investigating the potential of gas turbine technology that runs on solar power rather than the usual natural gas.

"In two to three years we could be demonstrating a significant-scale pilot system that would generate a lot of power and would be clearly mass manufacturable at a cost that would give us a stabilised cost of electricity that would be in the five cents or sub-five cents a kilowatt hour range," he said.

As well as looking to invest in clean energy technologies, Google is a keen user of solar and other renewable power, has installed a 1.6MW solar panel on the roof of its headquarters in California and has a fleet of electrical vehicles.

Google's RE <C (renewable energy less than coal) is already working with companies such as eSolar, which uses mirrors focused on thermal collectors to power turbines using solar energy, while another of its investments, Makani Power, wants to harvest wind energy at high altitudes.

Google has also got behind the current push for smart meters with its own PowerMeter project, which will provide energy use information to consumers' desktops via a Google gadget software application. In May, the company announced its first set of utility and smart meter manufacturing partners for the project, which included a range of mostly US-based utilities.

In March, Google announced a new arm of its business, Google Ventures, a technology investment fund that will target early-stage firms including clean tech startups. The firm said it would focus on "early-stage investments" with firms operating in consumer internet services, green and clean technology, biotechnology, healthcare and many others.