Google (NasdaqGS: GOOG) has plans to invest in enhanced geothermal over the next few months, according to Dan Reicher, the company’s director of climate change and energy initiatives.
At a two-day energy summit sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, Reicher said Google.org, the philanthropic arm of the Internet powerhouse is discussing with universities different ways to fund research aimed at utilizing heat from deep within the earth to create electricity.
Reicher said Google also intends to finance geothermal companies.
The investments will be part of Google’s "renewable energy cheaper than coal" initiative, launched late last year. To date, the company has invested in a concentrating solar company, eSolar, and a high-altitude wind power company, Makani Power.
"We don’t have the constraints of venture capital firms, with the usual three-to-six-year exit strategy and need for return," Reicher says. "We’re looking for higher-risk, higher-payoff investments."
Reicher also said Google.org is likely to invest in commercialization of cellulosic ethanol.
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