BrightSource Energy / Luz II Dedicate Solar Energy Development Center
13 June 2008
BrightSource Energy, Inc. and subsidiary Luz II, Ltd., developers of large-scale solar thermal power plants, dedicated their Solar Energy Development Center (SEDC) in the Negev’s Rotem Industrial Park, Israel. The Center is an operational solar field that will provide the company with the ability to test equipment, materials and procedures as well as construction and operating methods.
BrightSource Energy’s Dynamic Power Tower (DPT) technology uses a large array of thousands of small flat mirrors to reflect the sun’s rays onto a boiler atop a central tower. The concentrated sunlight heats the water inside the boiler to 550°C (1,022°C), generating utility-grade superheated steam.
In a commercial plant, the utility-grade superheated steam will be piped from the boiler to a standard turbine where electricity will be generated at a higher operating efficiency and lower cost than other solar power plants.
To conserve water, BrightSource uses air cooling to convert the steam back into water. The water is then returned to the boiler in a closed loop.
The SEDC solar field is a scaled cross-section of a typical commercial plant and includes more than 1,600 full-size glass mirrors (heliostats) and a 60 meter tall tower topped by a solar boiler.
In March, BrightSource entered into a series of power purchase agreements with PG&E for up to 900 MW of electricity. BrightSource is currently developing a number of solar power plants in Southern California, with construction of the first plant planned to start in 2009.
In May, BrightSource announced that it had secured $115 million in additional corporate funding from its Series C round of financing, bringing the total the company has raised to date to more than $160 million.
BrightSource was formed with seed capital from VantagePoint Venture Partners, which has increased its investment steadily over time. Privately held, 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.
(A hat-tip to Eric!)
"...The concentrated sunlight heats the water inside the boiler to 550°C (1,022°C), generating utility-grade superheated steam..."
Isn't it 550°C (1,022°F)?
Posted by: allen_xl_z | 13 June 2008 at 07:58 AM
Can’t an array of solar cells be placed in front of the solar boiler to absorb the red through blue light photons to produce electrical current? These solar cells will then let the Infrared (IR) radiation though to the solar boiler to produce steam. I think, this would increase the efficiency of the plant greatly.
Posted by: Axil | 13 June 2008 at 09:40 AM
One goal of Project Better Place in Israel is to reduce fossil fuel power plants; perhaps this is a step in that direction. The fact that P.G.& E. is involved is encouraging for the U.S. to start a serious move to build solar power plants.
Posted by: Lad | 13 June 2008 at 11:39 AM
The idea with solar towers is to acheive very high temperatures. PV chips can only stand so much heat. Concentrated PV systems struggle with the same issue.
Posted by: Healthy Breaze | 13 June 2008 at 12:56 PM
IMO concentrated solar thermal power will end up being the most economical and reliable form of power.
Posted by: GreenPlease | 13 June 2008 at 06:53 PM
This is definitely a step in the right direction. Renewable energy power plants such as this are still not meeting the increase in energy use globally, meaning that more fossil fuels are still being burnt annually to provide us with power.
Plants like this need to be churned out at top speed. Along with other designs such as the solar tower to be built in Australia, we have all the technology we need for clean energy production.
We have had this capacity for some time now, especially if you consider the simple principles behind this steam plant and the solar tower. It is a testament to human short term vision that we have come to rely so heavily on fossil fuels.
Posted by: Roger Vanderlely | 13 June 2008 at 07:35 PM
==To conserve water, BrightSource uses air cooling to convert the steam back into water. The water is then returned to the boiler in a closed loop.==
Bravo BrightSource!
That was one of the key challenges to this technology based out in the desert.
Good to see they are overcoming it.
Posted by: David Ahlport | 15 June 2008 at 10:10 PM
With the paasge of time the dirt deposition on the mirror is ineviatable. This may lead to substantial reduction in the solar enrgy reflection. How do you adress this aituation? do you need to carry out periodic cleaning of mirror surface?
Posted by: Vishwajit | 08 July 2008 at 12:45 AM