Latest Updates: brightsource RSS

• Israel On the Forefront of Greentech ?
  Srikant Rajan 02:19:09 pm on September 3, 2008 | 1 | # |
  Tags: algae, biofuel, brightsource, concetrated solar, dpt, greentech, HelioFocus, israel

  Israel has seen rapid development of a slew of alternative technologies such as solar energy and biofuel in the past couple of months.Just a couple of months back Issac Berzin undertook to build a center for creating strategic energy policies for promoting renewable energy development and use.Israel based Seambiotic is also investigating possibilities for using emission from coal plants as a feedstock for algae based biofuel.

  HelioFocus, another Israel based organization founded just an year back,received a $5million from Israel Corps renewable energy arm.HelioFocus has also partnered Capstone Turbine Corp for micro turbines to be integrated with its patented Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) systems.Capstone plans to modify its C65 Micro Turbine to integrate with HelioFocus CSP systems.The initial modifications would entail design of micro turbine to operate on superheated air and thus aid in effective integration with CSPs.

  CSPs essentially try to enhance the the solar energy available per unit area.Thus they offer a high energy density as compared to other solar energy devices.However the use a heating oil for transfer of heat which poses the challenge of effective heat transfer.BrightSource, has developed an alternative Distributed Power Technology (DPT) to counter this challenge and has shown promising results.

   

• Federal Stay on Solar Power
  Srikant Rajan 09:07:05 am on June 28, 2008 | 2 | # |
  Tags: brightsource, california, government regulation, solar energy, solar power, Solel

  With demand for energy showing no signs of abatement ,Mojave desert in California is emerging as an attractive destination to solar power developers.Nearly 8 startups have proposed plans to use the desert land for creating small to medium capacity solar power plants.The federal government has now placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact,which is expected to take 2 years.

  This temporary freeze on solar proposals has predictably caused a widespread concern among solar developers.Lee Wallach of Solel, a solar power company based in California says "The problem is that this is a very young industry, and the majority of us that are involved are young, struggling, hungry companies.This is a setback."However as unpalatable as this ban is ,it is essential to analyze the environmental impact of such plants on the fragile ecosystem of desert and neighboring areas.Two years is not a long time period to wait and the demand for energy isn’t going to fall in the coming years.However companies such as BrightSource, which already have secured permits to build solar plants would benefit immensely from his temporary ban.

   

• BrightSource’s DPT Technology Gets a Whopping Approval
  Srikant Rajan 04:26:19 pm on May 15, 2008 | 1 | # |
  Tags: brightsource, charles ricker, dpt, heliostats, power towers, solar energy, solar troughs

  BrightSource Energy is an enterprise focused on developing technology  for deriving large scale solar power.Its  Distributed Power Tower (DPT) technology  employs an array of small mirrors -Heliostats.The heliostats are designed to focus sunlight directly onto a liquid which generates steam that turns an electricity turbine.These are installed in a Solar Power Cluster(SPC) and each SPC is expected to generate around 20 MW of power.However solar thermal technology is highly dependent upon the geographical conditions and works best in dry sunny areas such as deserts.In addition the installation and construction of such plants tends to be very expensive.There has also been a resurgence in traditional technology that employs solar troughs to  heat oil and generate steam using the trapped heat in oil.However Charles Ricker senior vice president marketing, BrightSource emphasized that power towers are more efficient than troughs and require relatively less capital .He argued that DPT technology allows for direct tapping of solar energy to obtain steam rather than employing a transport oil for the same purpose.The recent raising of $115 million has added credence to Ricker’s belief and BrightSource DPT technology.This latest investment comes from Google.org, VantagePoint Venture Partners, BP Alternative Energy, Statoil Hydro Venture, Cargill subsidiary Black River. Existing investors include DBL Investors, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Chevron Technology Ventures.