The newly created initiative, known as RE<C, will focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies.

To achieve this, Google is planning to start $10s of millions in investments in R&D, with the anticipation of $100s of millions of investment in the coming few years.

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/environment/Google_Pledges_to_make_Renewables_Cheaper_than_Coal';

The target: 1 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity at or below the cost of coal-generated electricity. Their initial targets are solar, wind, and "advanced geothermal," and we're glad to hear they didn't leave that last one out. Geothermal has the potential to be entirely uninterrupted with an small footprint (unlike wind and solar) and new technologies are making geothermal more viable in more areas.

But, to start with, a wind and a solar firm have been identified as Google's early bets: eSolar (solar thermal power) and Makani Power Inc (high-altitude wind). Both of these are promising arenas for affordable renewable power. Solar thermal is already approaching the price of coal (if land prices can be kept down,) and high altitude wind provides a possibility for perpetual wind power at low-low prices.

It's important to point out that this, like all of Google's seemingly philanthropic efforts, is an investment scheme, not a giveaway. Google wants to turn its gold into more gold, and investing in these technologies is a fantastic way to do that. That's not to say that they aren't doing a "good" thing...in fact, this makes far more sense to me than purely philanthropic efforts.

If you just can't get enough of this news (as I can't seem to) check out the full press release after the jump.