Google Inc (Nasdaq: GOOG) said on Friday it has developed a prototype mirror technology that could cut by 50% the cost of building a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant.
Google's head of green energy, Bill Weihl, said the technology could be ready for deployment in as few as three years, Reuters reorted.
The Internet company has been actively pursuing clean energy technologies and investments in recent years in an attempt to create electricty generation than is cheaper than coal-fired power.
Google reportedly is researching reflective materials and substrates for heliostats--the reflective devices used to focus sunlight.
The path to market would like be with CSP companies eSolar and BrightSource. Google is an investor in both companies, and Weihl said he has discussed the technology with both companies.
"If it works, it would absolutely be something they would use," he said (Reuters reporting).
