Google’s Green Energy Czar Comments on the Company’s Ground Breaking New Solar Thermal Mirror Technology

Google Inc has developed a prototype for a new mirror technology that could cut by half the cost of building a solar thermal plant, the company’s green energy czar said last week. Bill Weihl said that if development and testing go well, he could see the product being ready in one to three years. In solar thermal plants the mirrors are a critical component that focus the sun’s rays on a central point where the energy is converted into mechanical work and then to electrical energy.

“Things have progressed,” Weihl said in an interview. “We have an internal prototype.”

Google has been looking at unusual materials for the mirror’s reflective surface and the substrate on which the mirror is mounted.The Internet search engine company, which has been investing in companies and doing research of its own to produce affordable renewable energy, wants to cut the cost of making heliostats, the fields of mirrors that track the sun.

“There is a decent chance that in a small number of years, we could have a 2-X reduction in cost,” he said.

Global companies are increasingly investing in green technology as the world grapples with global warming and governments strive to implement regulations that could limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Google has invested in two solar thermal companies, eSolar and BrightSource, with which it has discussed the new mirror technology, Weihl said. He said the technology was not at a stage where it could be tested externally, but he added that both eSolar and BrightSource were interested in it.

“If it works, it would absolutely be something they would use,” he said.

Source: Reuters

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Posted by Tracey A. Smith on Feb 28 2010. Filed under Solar Thermal Industry News, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry