Monday, April 11, 2011

Google Invests $168M In Mojave Power Plant

Search engine giant Google announced Monday afternoon that it is investing $168M in a plant in Mojave. According to the firm, the investment will go towards a solar energy power plant, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) being developed by Brightsource Energy. Google said it has invested over $250M in the clean energy sector. Brightsource's power project is based on heliostats, which use concentrated solar to generate steam, powering a traditional power turbine and generator. Google is also an investor in Pasadena-based eSolar, another utility-scale solar energy firm, which was spun out of Idealab. eSolar also uses banks of solar concentrating mirrors to heat up water to power generators for power.

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