GoogleGazer

Demonstrating Google’s commitment to invest in solar thermal energy generation as one of the key emerging industries addressing “the changing global climate,” Google announced that it had made a $10 equity investment by taking a stake in BrightSource Energy’s $115 Venture round through its Google.org arm. The investment is part of Google’s RE<C (Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal) initiative . Google has already been working with eSolar Inc. (PDF) which specializes in solar thermal power and Makani Power Inc. (PDF) which is developing high-altitude wind energy extraction technologies aimed at harnessing the world’s most powerful wind resources.

Bright Source designs and builds large scale solar plants that deliver low-cost solar energy in the form of steam and/or electricity, at prices competitive with fossil fuels, to industrial and utility customers worldwide.

Chris Busselle, Investments Manager and Kevin Chen, Green Energy Strategy were named in the announcement on Google’s blog. To demonstrate its commitment to this sector, Google announced that it was seeking a also looking for a Head of Renewable Energy to run their internal R&D effort, which is focused initially on solar thermal power, advanced wind technologies, and enhanced geothermal systems.

Google.org is the “do good” arm of Google that is run for long-term profitability and “aspires to use the power of information and technology to address the global challenges of our age: climate change, poverty and emerging disease.” You can visit it’s blog and website .

Given the cash that Google throws off every day, it’s still just dipping its little toe in these waters, but one can’t but applaud the initiative.

Filed under: Google, Google.org Tagged: | BrightSource Energy, Chris Busselle, David Sarna, eSolar, Google, Google.org, Kevin Chen, Makani Power