BrightSource, the company contracted by California’s Pacific Gas and Electric to provide 900 megawatts of solar thermal power in the next few years — enough to light up 630,000 homes — opens a test solar tower this week in Israel’s Negev Desert.
The 1.5-megawatt test tower is a smaller version of the 100-megawatt facility BrightSource will build in the Mojave Desert by 2011 as part of California’s push to obtain 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The tower’s system of tiny, electronically controlled mirrors focuses sunlight on a water tank, where evaporation then drives turbines to produce electricity. This so-called solar thermal system differs from traditional photovoltaic cells that convert the sun’s rays into electrical energy. The test tower will enable BrightSource to refine the technology before embarking on the California project.
In San Francisco, a proposition to fund a $3 million rebate program for homeowners and businesses looking to install photovoltaic systems awaits only the mayor’s signature. Homeowners would receive $3,000 or $6,000 rebates; businesses, $10,000 rebates.
The 1.5-megawatt test tower is a smaller version of the 100-megawatt facility BrightSource will build in the Mojave Desert by 2011 as part of California’s push to obtain 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The tower’s system of tiny, electronically controlled mirrors focuses sunlight on a water tank, where evaporation then drives turbines to produce electricity. This so-called solar thermal system differs from traditional photovoltaic cells that convert the sun’s rays into electrical energy. The test tower will enable BrightSource to refine the technology before embarking on the California project.
In San Francisco, a proposition to fund a $3 million rebate program for homeowners and businesses looking to install photovoltaic systems awaits only the mayor’s signature. Homeowners would receive $3,000 or $6,000 rebates; businesses, $10,000 rebates.