Que les géants pétroliers (le norvègien StatOilHydro et le britannique BP) se mettent à investir dans le solaire à concentration, c'est très bon signe !


BrightSource gets $115 million in new funding Google, BP, StatoilHydro invest in solar thermal firm - Suite: MarketWatch.com

BrightSource Energy Exceeds $115 Million in Latest Round of Funding

Important new investors join existing syndicate in increasing financial support

(Oakland, CA) May 14, 2008 – BrightSource Energy, Inc., developer of utility-scale solar energy projects, has secured $115 million in additional corporate funding from its Series C round of financing, bringing the total the company has raised to date to over $160 million. These additional funds will enable the company to accelerate its plans to deliver utility-grade solar power at a time when many utilities are searching for reliable sources of renewable energy.

VantagePoint Venture Partners, the company’s initial investor, played a major role in forming the syndicate, which includes Google.org, BP Alternative Energy, StatoilHydro Venture and Black River. All of the company’s existing investors, including Morgan Stanley, DBL Investors (formerly a subsidiary of JP Morgan), Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Chevron Technology Ventures participated in the round.

“The quality of the investors in this round of financing, coupled with increased support from our earlier investors, underscores the confidence that major strategic players have in our ability to reliably generate clean, cost-effective, utility-scale solar power,” said John Woolard, Chief Executive Officer of BrightSource. “We believe in the transformational role of solar energy, and that the broad reach of our new investors will enable us to accelerate the growth of solar thermal into a mainstream energy source.”

“With its unique ability to reliably produce superheated steam at efficient high temperatures, our power tower technology is the strongest commercially viable approach to solar energy,” said Arnold Goldman, Chairman and Founder, BrightSource Energy, Inc. and Luz II Ltd. “Operating more efficiently than older solar thermal methods, and costing much less to build, our technology will change the way utilities generate electricity.”

In March 2008, BrightSource entered into a series of power purchase agreements with PG&E for up to 900MW of electricity. BrightSource is currently developing a number of solar power plants in the Mojave Desert of Southern California, with construction of the first plant planned to start in 2009.

“In working closely with BrightSource over the past several years, they have greatly impressed us with their commitment to efficiency and technological prowess,” said Alan Salzman, Managing Partner of VantagePoint Venture Partners. “The work that we are helping finance is both an extraordinary business opportunity and a catalyst for transformative change to the energy world as we know it. It is exciting to be part of it.”

About BrightSource Energy, Inc.

BrightSource Energy, Inc. designs, builds, finances and operates utility-scale solar power plants that deliver clean, low-cost solar energy to utility and industrial customers worldwide at prices that compete with fossil fuels. BrightSource’s plants utilize its innovative, proprietary technology, based on the proven power tower concept, to directly produce very high temperature steam to drive a standard steam turbine to generate electricity. BrightSource enables the reduction of

Luz II Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of BrightSource Energy, Inc. Based in Israel, Luz II is responsible for solar technology development, plant design and engineering, and the supply of the solar fields for BrightSource plants.

Further information about BrightSource and Luz II may be found at

 

Google.org announces investment in BrightSource Energy

5/14/2008 10:14:00 AM

Posted by Chris Busselle, Investments Manager and Kevin Chen, Green Energy Strategy


Today we are pleased to announce our participation in BrightSource Energy's $115 million venture financing with a $10 million equity investment as part of Google's RE<C initiative.

Solar thermal energy generation is one of the key emerging industries addressing the changing global climate and we are excited about both of our current investments in solar thermal technology -- BrightSource Energy and eSolar.

In addition to making investments in renewable energy startups, we plan to make grants to support the research and development of enabling technologies to help the solar thermal industry achieve larger scale and lower costs. We believe that by supporting researchers and entrepreneurs taking different, ambitious approaches and risks to generate clean energy, we can help to accelerate progress and increase the collective economic value of these new clean energy industries.

We are also looking for a Head of Renewable Energy to run our internal R&D effort, which is focused initially on solar thermal power, advanced wind technologies, and enhanced geothermal systems.