Google develops solar mirror
Reuters reports that 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 newsire reports that company’s green energy czar, Bill Weihl, said that if development and testing go well, he could see the product being ready in one to three years.
“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. Mirrors focus the sun’s rays on the heated substance to heat a substance that produces steam to run a turbine.
Google 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. Google has invested in two solar thermal companies, eSolar and BrightSource, with which it has discussed the new mirror technology, Weihl said.
“If it works, it would absolutely be something they would use,” he said.