BrightSource Energy, Inc., developer of utility-scale solar energy projects, has secured $115 million in additional funding from Google.org, BP Alternative Energy and others, bringing the total the company has raised to date to over $160 million.
These additional funds will help the company accelerate its plans to deliver utility-grade concentrating solar power.
VantagePoint Venture Partners, the company’s initial investor, played a major role in this round of funding, which included 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, CEO of BrightSource.
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.
“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.”
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 was formed with seed capital from VantagePoint Venture Partners, which has increased its investment steadily over time. BrightSource is headquartered in Oakland, California.
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.
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