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Khosla Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers back technology and utility veterans in making renewable energy price competitive with fossil fuels

AlwaysOn GoingGreen Conference, DAVIS, Calif.—Sept. 10, 2007—Ausra Inc., the developer of utility-scale solar thermal power technology, has secured more than $40 million in funding from Silicon Valley venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (KPCB). The company has assembled a world-class team of solar power scientists, power project developers and financiers to make reliable, large-scale solar thermal power a reality today for electric utilities.

"Worldwide, the electric power industry creates 40 percent of total carbon emissions, and electricity use is rapidly growing. Ausra's technology serves a critical need for utilities seeking large-scale affordable sources of clean power to meet the dual challenges of economic growth and carbon constraints," said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures and Ausra investor and board member. "Ausra's technology replaces smoke with mirrors by eliminating fuel use for power generation, and sets a new benchmark for the cost and scale of solar power."

Ausra's power plants drive steam turbines with sunshine. Locally manufactured solar concentrators made of steel and glass focus sunlight to boil water, generating high-pressure steam that drives conventional turbine generators. New thermal energy storage systems using pressurized water and low cost materials will provide for on-demand generation day and night. Ausra's core technology, the Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) solar steam generation system, was originally conceived in the early 1990s by founder David Mills while at Sydney University. Mills later worked with Graham Morrison to develop the idea between 1995 and 2001.

Ausra aims to expedite the utility industry's transition to clean energy, helping utilities meet renewable portfolio standards while keeping rates low and the power on for consumers day and night. "Economic development around the world, coupled with recognition that carbon emissions must rapidly be eliminated, has created an enormous market opportunity for companies that can deliver solar power at large scale and at reasonable cost," says KPCB Partner and Ausra investor and board member Ray Lane. "Solar thermal power is the main event in renewable energy, and Ausra has the deep expertise and a simple, yet effective, design to fully capitalize on the opportunity to deliver the majority of our future power needs."

"We had been working on a wide range of alternatives and kept finding that simpler, cheaper approaches outperformed higher-temperature, more sophisticated designs," says Ausra Chairman David Mills. In 2002, Mills and Morrison founded Solar Heat and Power Pty Ltd. in partnership with Ausra CEO Peter Le Lièvre, and SHP built a successful trial 1 megawatt system in 2004 for Macquarie Generation in New South Wales. A following 38 megawatt CLFR solar field is expected to be complete by 2009.

It was Ausra Executive Vice-President John O'Donnell who brought the founders and investors together in October 2006. They clicked, and Ausra was formed in late 2006 to take the technology to large-scale commercial deployment in the U.S. and worldwide. Le Lièvre recalls, "We found in Khosla Ventures and KPCB a vision that matched ours – a deep understanding of the market and fearlessness about bringing a fundamentally new technology to large scale."

Mills is known internationally for his academic advancements in non-imaging optics, solar thermal energy and concentrator systems. Morrison ran Australia's premier solar test facility and is an expert at both solar collector and solar radiation modeling. Le Lièvre has 20 years of experience as an industrial designer specializing in technical development and financing new ventures. Chief Development Officer Robert Morgan and Chief Commercial Officer Glen Davis are recognized power industry experts, having come to Ausra after significant careers with AES and their consultancy Agile Energy. Together, Morgan and Davis have nearly half-a-century of experience in working with utilities to build and manage large-scale power projects around the world.

About Ausra Ausra, Inc. develops and deploys utility-scale solar thermal power technology to serve global electricity needs in a dependable, market-competitive, environmentally responsible manner. Located in Palo Alto, Calif., Ausra is a privately held company funded by Khosla Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. To learn more about Ausra and solar thermal power in general, visit www.ausra.com.

Energy Tags: alternative, solar power

We've bringing exciting news - in the most recent cases, from the Tokyo Motor Show preview series - about major automakers that are bringing out all-electric concepts. Last week, for example, we learned about the very practical Subaru …

More: continued here

GoingGreen 2007 is a green tech companies meet the movers and shakers in the corporate world. Green technology is growing rapidly and transforming the global energy, water, transportation, construction, and other industries. These are trillion dollar industries. We are going to be there to preview exciting new developments in energy for our readers.

We plan to gather video with important business leaders, new technologies and leading edge companies. Watch for our coverage this week. For more info on Going Green 2007 hit their site and see how big this event really is going to be.

Energy Tags: wind power, energy

Daniel Stouffer asked:


The first thing you might ask - what is solar radiation and how does it related to solar generated electricity? That is a good question and a topic discussed in our next article in our series dedicated to home solar power. This article, on the other hand, explains how kilowatts are calculated based upon the energy output of your solar array. We will also highlight the difference between solar cells connected in parallel versus in series. The average American home uses about 25 kWh of electricity per day. The following example illustrates how to calculate the power produced by a residential solar energy system. Looking over a solar radiation grid, we can determine that a residence gets five daylight hours of solar radiation in one day which is then averaged out over the entire year. Solar radiation maps are highlighted on may websites throughout the Internet. You can do a quick search for "solar radiation" to find one. In any area across the entire United States, they detail out the amount of sunshine hitting a given location based upon the time of year and its address. Calculating the power from a solar energy system Divide the average kWh per day by the average sun hours per day. For this example, we take 25 kWh divided by 5 hours of sun per day = 5 kW system This 5 kW system will generate 25 kWhs under optimal conditions in direct sunlight for 5 hours, or 25 kWh on an average day with some at peak production and most of the sunlight at less than optimal angles. Future articles related to solar energy will continue to explain the effects of sun angle, reflection, and refraction on the design, output, and installation of solar panels. Energy as it Pertains to Solar Modules Individual solar modules that are measured in watts have a particular voltage (around 40 volts) and a particular amperage (around 5 amps). A solar module with 40 volts and 5 amps is called a 200-watt module, which means that it has the potential to produce 200 watts of electricity when in direct sunlight, away from trees or shading, and clear of snow or debris. Since most electrical components around your house are only rated for 600 volts DC, it is rare to see a solar array with a string larger the 15 solar modules. On the other hand, since inverters need a minimum voltage or pressure to turn them on, you will seldom have a solar array with a string solar modules with a size smaller then 6. Electrical components, like solar cells, panel modules or batteries, can be connected in either series or parallel. This makes a big difference in the total quantities of energy produced from the solar energy system, as well as the stability of the technology over time. Each solar module or component has a positive and a negative pole. In essence, this is the same way batteries have their negative and positive poles arranged. Take a look at how you but batteries in a flashlight. Same idea here. The manner in which these poles are connected makes a big difference. Connect Solar Panels in Series When you connect residential solar energy systems in series, you connect the positive (+) pole on one component to the negative (-) pole on the next. When modules are connected in series, the voltages are added. Adding voltage together in this fashion creates a long chain of solar modules all working together, depending upon each other, and creating a flow of current that increases along the length of the system. These modules in series are called Strings. The average string is 8-12 modules so the voltage would be 320 - 480. Unfortunately, we encounter some negative aspects of of this type of construction. Connecting Solar Panels in Parallel When you connect solar panels or components in parallel, you connect the panels so current can travel to your inverter and to your house via multiple paths. Unlike adding solar modules in series which increases the volume of current as it goes, the solar panels connected in parallel has the effective of leaving the current or volume of electricity passing through the system the same. Solar panels or strings of solar arrays tied together in parallel are called parallel systems. Their amps are combined together but the total voltage remains the same. Adding amps is like increasing the volume, the pressure stays the same but the volume goes up. Inverters can only handle so much volume so you will seldom see more than 1 to 3 strings in parallel; positive ends to positive ends with negative ends to negative ends. One of the advantages of parallel connection is that electricity continues to flow, even though one of the components (or strings) is damaged. If a system is entirely in series, one damaged component stops the entire system. You may remember the ever-frustrating Christmas lights that were connected in series. Often difficult to trouble shoot, strings of lights connected in series are hard to fix when one bulb blew out. Now, the modern Christmas lights are connected in parallel. You are able to determine this easily. There are usually two different wires coming in and out of each bulb. You can feel this via their less frustrating maintenance and operation. Options for Residential Solar Energy Systems In this article, we explained in some detail how solar modules calculate the power they produce as well as how connecting solar arrays in series or parallel can have an large impact on energy output as well as complexity of design. Our next article will cover how sun angle affects solar energy systems and how to quantify the solar power produced from the sun. New solar energy system rentals allow you to upgrade your home to solar generated electricity with no large system to purchase. You can rent the solar energy equipment needed to generate up to 100 percent of your electricity needs. Exciting aspects related to clean, green solar energy are emerging all around us.

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Energy Tags: solar energy, alternative energy

Wow have you seen this car? The Aptura is scheduled to launch sales later this year in California. An electric (or plug in hybrid) vehicle that also looks very cool. Now we are talking.

Here is what Aptura says about themselves:

The first Operating Prototype achieved over 230 Miles per gallon! Five years ago, Aptera's founder Steve Fambro endeavored to design and build a passenger vehicle that was safe, comfortable, and more fuel-efficient than anything ever produced. This aspiration, combined with his background in engineering, led him to an intensive study of aerodynamics, and composite aircraft construction. He hypothesized that a low-drag, aerodynamic body shape could be achieved without sacrificing comfort, drivability or safety. What emerged, after much designing, conceptualizing, and constructing, was a prototype two-seat, three-wheeled vehicle. This first operating prototype achieved a stunning 230 miles per gallon, Building on this success, Steve expanded his Aptera team and created the Aptera Typ-1, which has been re-designed, re-engineered, and refined into a production ready vehicle. We are excited to announce that the Aptera Typ-1 is now available for reservations.

A little preview of the Aptura from the LA Times:

Say hello to papa, I want on of these cars. Sign me up.

Energy Tags: wind power, energy resources