Solar Thermal Test Center Opened by BrightSource Energy in Israel

The energy company BrightSource Energy Inc said it would open a solar “power tower” in Israel this week to test new technology that will be used for the construction of power plants next year in California.

California utility PG & E Corp signed contracts with BrightSource in April to buy up to 900 megawatts of solar thermal in the coming years, enough energy to power 630,000 homes.

The move is part of a push from PG & E to meet the requirements of California for at least 20 percent of the energy supply comes from renewable energy by 2010.

A global race is under way to find energy alternatives to replace fossil fuels, and entrepreneurs are scrambling for a piece of clean energy market which analysts estimate is worth about $ 150 billion a year.

The development center BrightSource, with a tower 60 meters high and some 1,200 mirrors, is located in approximately 12,000 square meters of the Desert in Israel Nagev, chairman Arnold Goldman said.

BrightSource gave no financial details of the complex, but said that their systems are more cost-efficient than other solar power plants.

The new power tower, which is capable of generating 1.5 megawatts, will not produce electricity for public use, but to test technology to feed future plants, including a 100 megawatt plant in the Mojave Desert that is estimated to be completed 2011, said Kroizer.

The 100 megawatt plant will be 50 times larger than the central Negev.

The manager of BrightSource Woolard said competitors, such as Spanish building and energy group Acciona, still using technology similar to those used by BrightSource 20 years ago.

“The tower of power is based on technology, we see no serious competitor still in the area,” Woolard said in a conference in Jerusalem.

Higher Temperature Higher Pression

The towers of solar energy, which have been used for decades, used mirrors to reflect and intensify sunlight, it is almost like using a magnifying glass to start fire. Traditionally, the system contains long rows of mirrors bent to reach the 100 meters in length.

Sunlight is aimed at a boiler on top of the tower is hot enough so that water vapor is then passed through turbines which produce electricity.

The new power tower is surrounded by a system of smaller, flat mirrors, each with a system to track growth and reflect the sun more effectively than other systems, Goldman said.

“They require large quantities of electronics and controls and gears. The electronics industry has fallen so those costs can be achieved that today, “said Goldman. It also requires about one third of steel and cement, he said.

BrightSource mirrors reflect about 50 percent sunlight, while the Standard systems reflect 35-40 percent, Goldman said. As a result, the temperature and pressure in the boiler is higher and energy is produced more effectively.

“Pressures historic records have shown about 20 suns in the tower. It has a maximum of 600 suns, “said Goldman.

Woolard also said that the new power tower works at half the cost of solar photovoltaic plants because it produces twice the energy in the same amount of hours in the year.