Comments on: Brightsource lands the largest solar deal yet

By: PG&E inks deal with Martifer to buy 106.8 megawatts of solar-biofuel hybrid power | Me Too!

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:01:22 +0000

[...] Fresno County to allow for 24/7 electricity generation. Although the plants are smaller than other solar thermal deals cinched by PG&E, they mark the first time it has tried combining solar with other generation schemes, and help [...]

By: PG&E inks deal with Martifer to buy 106.8 megawatts of solar-biofuel hybrid power » VentureBeat

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:42:09 +0000

[...] plants. In recent months, PG&E has also inked contracts with BrightSource Energy, which will provide it with 900 megawatts of solar thermal energy, and Calpine, which will supply geothermal energy from The Geysers field north Calistoga. Southern [...]

By: BrightSource snags $115M for solar thermal project » VentureBeat

BrightSource snags $115M for solar thermal project » VentureBeat — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:38:16 +0000

[...] company recently signed a massive contract with PG&E to supply it with up to 900 megawatts from its plants, whose construction will begin in 2009. Its [...]

By: John

John — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:40:28 +0000

Response to Qdub

The current estimate is that a coal plant costs around $1.5M per megawatt for construction. So the solar plant is about double initial cost. The financial gain in the solar equation comes from the cost of fuel — zero — compared to coal. A small coal plant (350MW) will use a million tons of coal every year. Coal prices vary depending on your locale (around $15-60/ton) but you can count spending $20Mil/year for fuel. At that rate it doesn’t take the solar thermal plant long to catch up.

By: 11 Solar Thermal Companies Powering Up « Earth2Tech

11 Solar Thermal Companies Powering Up « Earth2Tech — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:03:11 +0000

[...] Stanley, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, J.P. Morgan, and Chevron Technology Ventures — but has announced less than $50 million in funding. BrightSource’s technology uses a central power tower surrounded by heliostats in what it [...]

By: Google, Oak Investment and Idealab back eSolar to the tune of $130M » VentureBeat

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:35:04 +0000

[...] Ausra, by contrast, is planning a 177MW plant in San Luis Obispo County, while Brightsource has a deal for five of about the same size. Going smaller has several benefits for eSolar. The biggest is that the bureaucratic stumbling [...]

By: Roundup: FCC turns down Skype appeal, PG&E asks for more renewables, and more » VentureBeat

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:01:52 +0000

[...] renewable energy by 2015 — Energy utility PG&E, which supplies the Bay Area, just struck a deal for 900 megawatts of energy from solar thermal company BrightSource. Instead of taking a day of rest, though, the company has [...]

By: Anthony Kuhn

Anthony Kuhn — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:22:15 +0000

Chris:

Again, with the excellent Clean Tech reportage! Thanks for this piece and the links. I love this kind of innovation and I have high hopes for BrightSource’s success.

By: Q dub

Q dub — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:32:00 +0000

So we’re looking at $2.8MM up front capex for each MW. Any comparables with other sources of grid energy?