BrightSource is hoping to start construction in August on a 400-megawatt project called Ivanpah, in the Mojave Desert.
FORBES: Solar Thermal Hopefuls Make Their Case, Battle For Financing
Among those projects is the Brightsource Ivanpah project, a 450-foot-fall solar power tower located in the Mojave Desert.
If so, Ivanpah will be the ground on which it makes its case.
ECONOMIST: Some solar plants need to be big; most of them don��t
The FERC order from last year reveals a potential secondary (and more intriguing) purpose for the Ivanpah investment, however.
The project, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, when completed in 2013 will supposedly be the largest solar project in the world.
FORBES: Google Invests $168 Million In BrightSource Energy Solar Plant
The desert tortoise has proven to be an ongoing issue at Ivanpah.
FORBES: Reading the fine print of BrightSource's $250 million IPO
Google has invested directly in renewable energy projects, such as the 370-megawatt Ivanpah solar thermal power plant now under construction in California.
FORBES: Google Signs Utility Deal To Power Data Center With Wind Energy
The Ivanpah solar tower, formally known as the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, is the largest solar thermal power facility currently under construction.
BrightSource can point to its SEGS experience and the fact that the engineering firm Bechtel is helping design and build its Ivanpah project.
FORBES: Solar Thermal Hopefuls Make Their Case, Battle For Financing
The Ivanpah investment, along with other recent investments by Google into clean energy, seems to indicate that the company is at least considering a move into the energy space.
Despite its impressive pipeline of projects and prominent investors, BrightSource acknowledged in the filing that its viability turns on the completion and operation of Ivanpah, which will deploy 170, 000 heliostats around three towers.
FORBES: Reading the fine print of BrightSource's $250 million IPO
It took a torturous three-year environmental review by state and federal authorities before Ivanpah received its license and the project is currently the subject of two lawsuits filed by an environmental organization and a Native American group over its impact on the imperiled desert tortoise and cultural artifacts.
FORBES: Reading the fine print of BrightSource's $250 million IPO
Ivanpah is a solar concentrator project, using fields of mirrors, known as heliostats, to concentrate sunlight onto a solar receiver on top of a tower. (This project when finished will include 173, 000 heliostats.) The concentrated sunlight is used to heat water, generating steam which is used to turn a traditional turbine and generator to produce electricity.
FORBES: Google Invests $168 Million In BrightSource Energy Solar Plant
应用推荐