Posts Tagged by BrightSource
BrightSource’s Solar Thermal Plant and the Desert Tortoise
| May 1, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
Oakland, CA-based BrightSource will soon be raising $250 million in an IPO to complete a 393-megawatt solar thermal project in the Mojave Desert. The project is under attack, however, as the land involved in the deal is home to the desert tortoise. In fact, BrightSource has already shaved 500 acres (and about 50 megawatts) off of its original blueprints to accommodate concerns from environmentalists.
But don’t we need to weigh the environmental impact of the project – equivalent to taking 90,000 gas-powered cars off the road, against the plight of a certain number of desert tortoises? It seems ironic that we’re so compassionate towards our reptiles when we don’t seem as adamant in our dealings with coal-fired power plants, the noxious output of which causes the premature death of tens of thousands of human beings every year.
Related posts:
Renewable Energy World at Intersolar — and an Affirmation of Concentrated Solar Power
| July 14, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
As planned, I used my trip to the Intersolar show to connect busily with many industry colleagues, including my friends at Renewable Energy World. And, true to form, these folks weren’t exactly lounging around either. I found the company’s president, Jim Callahan, hard at work in the company’s booth on the third floor, speaking to industry VIPs, while Stephen Lacey was conducting back-to-back on-camera interviews with spokespeople from a variety of disciplines and technologies in their impromptu but ultra-professional Internet TV studio on the first floor.
I was sad to note that most of the show was devoted to PV (vs. concentrated solar power), but I happened to come by the studio at a point where Stephen was chatting with a top representative of CSP, Charlie Ricker, Senior Vice President of Business Development for BrightSource Energy. Stephen asked, “So are you one of these people who believes that we’ll ultimately see hundreds or thousands of square miles of CSP in the southwestern deserts, and transmission lines to the population centers all over North America?” I was delighted that Charlie replied, “Yes, I believe that’s a very real goal.”
I like to think I’m a man who can hold a viewpoint regardless of its popularity. But it’s always good to hear confirmation from smart people like Charlie.
