BrightSource is a leading solar thermal technology company that designs, develops and sells proprietary systems producing reliable, clean energy in utility-scale electric power plants. Its systems use proprietary solar power tower technology to deliver cost-competitive, renewable electricity with characteristics highly valued by utilities and others, such as reliability and consistency. BrightSource’s systems are also used by industrial companies to create high-temperature steam for use in applications such as thermal enhanced oil recovery, or EOR.
BrightSource’s proprietary LPT solar thermal technology uses thousands of small mirrors to reflect sunlight onto a boiler to produce steam, which is piped to a conventional turbine to generate electricity. To conserve water, the steam is air-cooled and piped back into the system in a closed-loop, environmentally friendly process.
BrightSource has the largest solar pipeline in the US with 2600 megawatts under contract. BrightSource’s technology will be deployed at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS), currently under construction in California’s Mojave Desert. When completed, the ISEGS will nearly double the amount of solar thermal in the US today.