eSolar, an Idealab company based in Pasadena, CA that produces scalable solar thermal power plants, announced on Monday that it closed $130 million in funding from Idealab, Google.org, Oak Investment Partners, and other investors for the construction and deployment of its pre-fabricated power plants. In January eSolar received $10 million from Google.org.
"eSolar’s primary business goal is nothing short of making solar electricity for less than the price of coal, without subsidies," said Bill Gross, eSolar Chairman and Founder of Idealab. "This is not only attainable, but will truly change the world."
eSolar’s distributed solar thermal plants are designed to address the complex issues involved in large or utility-scale power projects and are able to achieve economies of scale at 33 MW. The modular design of these plants have a number of benefits, including requiring minimal land and yielding a low environmental footprint.
"The eSolar™ power plant is based on mass manufactured components, and designed for rapid construction, uniform modularity, and unlimited scalability," said Asif Ansari, CEO of eSolar. "Rather than over-engineering the solution, eSolar’s smart scalable solar architecture targets what we see as the four key business obstacles facing the sector: price, scalability, rapid deployment, and grid impact."
eSolar has secured land rights in the southwest United States to support the production and transmission of over 1 GW of power. eSolar will have a fully operational power plant later this year in southern California.
For more information:
- eSolar – Home page
- eSolar Announces Breakthrough Pre-Fabricated Solar Power Plants (PDF) (April 21, 2008)
- Google.org Announces Philanthropy Focus Areas; Includes Climate Change (includes reference to prior eSolar funding)