The sun comes to the southwestern US reliably for so many days every year that is is like a beacon to the rising number of solar energy companies around the world. Ausra was founded in Australia a couple years ago but last year they moved to Palo Alto in order to enter the US market. Ausra builds solar thermal technology that focuses sunlight onto pipes filled with water. The sunlight heats the water to steam which then drives turbines to create energy. Nothing too new there. However what Ausra is doing is using large mirrors that are focused on pipes overhead. They call it [tag]Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector [/tag]technology. Here is what the mirrors look like.
And here is what the power schematic looks like for their plants.
On the drawing board to be built in the next two years is a 1 square mile solar thermal power plant capable of generating 175 mega watts of power. This is utility grade zero carbon power. Ausra has raised $40 million form VC sources for the development of this plant. The impact of this plant on the environment is negligible. You can hardly even see it from a distance unlike some of the solar thermal projects which rely on a tower construction.
I sat down and talked with their Chairman David Mills. He told me how it works and what they hope to accomplish.
