Google Invests $168 MIllion in Ivanpah Solar Thermal Plant

Google announced this week that it will be making its largest renewable energy investment to date by investing $168 million in Brightsource Energy's Ivanpah solar thermal power plant in the Mojave desert. The plant will have an installed capacity of 392 MW.

The Ivanpah plant began construction last year and should be completed in 2013. It will employ 173,000 heliostats, each with two mirrors, to concentrate solar energy onto a tower where the heat will make steam that turns a turbine and creates electricity. While other solar thermal projects are in the works in the Southwest, Ivanpah is the largest solar tower project so far.

This type of solar power technology is one that Google is trying to improve upon themselves. The company announced last year that it was working on a more efficient mirror technology that could lower the cost of solar thermal plants.

This latest investment brings Google's total renewable energy investments up to $250 million.

via:   Google & Ecogeek

BrightSource Energy Inc. Prepares for IPO

BrightSource Energy Inc., an Oakland, Calif.-headquartered solar thermal technology company, has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed initial public offering of shares of its common stock.

The company says that Goldman, Sachs & Co., Citi and Deutsche Bank Securities will act as book-running managers for the offering.

The number of shares to be sold in the proposed offering and the offering price have not yet been determined. A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the SEC but has not yet become effective.


Source:   Solar Industry

Google Invests In BrightSource's Ivanpah Solar Pro

BrightSource Energy Inc. has closed financing for the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. As part of the financing, BrightSource finalized $1.6 billion in loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Energy's loan programs office.

The company also announced that Google will join NRG Solar LLC and BrightSource as an equity investor in the project by making a $168 million investment. In October 2010, NRG Solar LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy, announced its commitment to invest up to $300 million to become the lead investor in the project.

The Ivanpah project is located on approximately 3,500 acres of federal land managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in California. The project is a 392 MW solar power facility consisting of three separate solar thermal power plants. The power generated from these solar plants will be sold under separate contracts with Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison.

SOURCE: BrightSource Energy Inc.