Australian
Thursday 2/10/2008 Page: 21
THE Australian-founded solar energy technology company Ausra has scored a $US60.6 million ($76 million) funding package from venture capitalists including the local Starfish Ventures to help ramp up the production of its Fresnel lens-based power generators. Ausra develops solar energy plants using relatively inexpensive Fresnel lens technology that can stand alone or be grafted on to dirty coal-fired plants and reduce their carbon footprints.
Fresnel lenses are less efficient, but much cheaper, than conventional lenses and have traditionally been used in lighthouses. The powerplants work by focusing sunlight on water and generating steam that drives an electricity-producing turbine. The Ausra investment is the first renewable energy investment for Starfish Ventures.
Ausra investment director Aaron Fyke said Ausra's longterm goal was to build solar plants at near the costs of coalfired plants. Ausra is close to completing a 5-megawatt solar thermal plant near Bakersfield, California, and proposes to build a 177MW plant for Pacific Gas and Electric in California.
It has also built a solar augmentation plant for a coal-fired power station in NSW. "Ausra is geared towards generating large amounts of utility scale power economically. Energy is a commodity and the cheapest source generally wins," Mr Fyke said. Ausra "can get to a fairly significant business on their own merits", he added. The company, based in California, was co-founded by Australian solar energy pioneer David Mills.
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