photo: Todd Woody In Thursday’s New York Times, I write about how the nascent solar thermal boom in California’s Mojave Desert is being derailed by lawsuits from environmental, union and Native American groups: SAN FRANCISCO — Just weeks after regulators approved the last of nine multibillion-dollar solar thermal power plants to be built in the [...]
Archive for the ‘BrightSource Energy’ Category
Short-circuiting California’s solar thermal power plant boom
Posted in BrightSource Energy, energy, environment, NextEra Energy Resources, renewable energy, Sierra Club, solar energy, Solar Millennium, solar power plants, Southern California Edison, Tessera Solar on February 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Saving the desert tortoise from solar power plants
Posted in BrightSource Energy, endangered species, energy, environment, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged desert tortoise, Ivanpah, Mercy Vaughn, Peter Woodman on November 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In the New York Times on Wednesday, I follow up my story on solar power plants and desert tortoises: In an article in The New York Times on Wednesday, I write about how the fortunes of big solar power plants in the desert Southwest can hinge on the way developers handle imperiled [...]
Desert tortoise sets pace for solar power projects
Posted in BrightSource Energy, endangered species, energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged desert tortoise, Ivanpah on November 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In The New York Times special Energy report, I write about how the success of large-scale solar power plants being built in the desert Southwest depends on how developers deal with the imperiled desert tortoise and other wildlife: NIPTON, Calif. — On the construction site of the $2 billion Ivanpah solar power [...]
Desert solar boom begins, may be short-lived
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, energy, environment, global warming, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, Solar Millennium, solar power plants, Tessera Solar on October 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In Friday’s New York Times, I write about the beginning of the long-awaited solar boom in the Mojave Desert and how it may well be short-lived if crucial federal incentives for renewable energy are allowed to expire in the coming months: NIPTON, Calif. — The long-promised solar building boom in the desert [...]
Ground broken on U.S’ first big solar power plant in 20 years
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, climate change, environment, global warming, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged John Woolard on October 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo of desert tortoise tagged with a radio transmitter at the Ivanpah solar farm site: Todd Woody In Yale Environment 360 on Wednesday, I interview John Woolard, chief executive of BrightSource Energy, the California solar developer that has begun construction of the first large-scale solar thermal power plant to be built in the United States [...]
Economy sags, green tech investment surges
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, energy efficiency, enviro capitalism, enviro startups, environment, green financing, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged BrightSource Energy, green tech investing, venture capital investment on August 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The anemic economic recovery may have hit the dog days of summer with consumer spending and factory orders slowing, but the new energy economy continues to surge, according to a report released Tuesday by Ernst & Young. Venture capital (VC) investment in [...]
Government sets lease fees for big desert solar projects
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, environment, First Solar, green policy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged BrightSource Energy, Bureau of Land Management, First Solar, Solar Energy Industries Association, solar lease fees, solar power plants on June 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In The New York Times on Thursday, I write about the solar industry’s dismay over the rent and other fees the United States government will charge developers to build big solar power plants on federal land in the desert Southwest: The nation’s biggest landlord, the United States government, has set the rent [...]
French energy giant jumps into solar market.
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, corporate green, energy, environment, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Alstom, BrightSource Enegy, John Woolard, solar energy on May 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: BrightSource Energy In last Thursday’s New York Times, I wrote about French industrial conglomerate Alstom’s $55 million investment in BrightSource Energy, a California-based solar power plant builder: Alstom, the French energy giant, has taken a $55 million stake in BrightSource Energy, a solar power plant builder backed by Google, Morgan Stanley and other investors. [...]
Big California solar power plant moves forward
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged BrightSource Energy, California Energy Commission, Ivanpah, solar energy, solar power plants on March 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Photo: BrightSource Energy In The New York Times on Wednesday I write that California regulators have recommended approval of BrightSource Energy’s 392-megawatt solar thermal power plant, the first large-scale project in the state in two decades: California regulators on Wednesday recommended that the state’s first new big solar power plant in nearly two decades be [...]
Feinstein solar ban offers some innovative incentives
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, endangered species, energy, environment, green policy, green tech, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged BrightSource Energy, desert tortoise, Goldman Sachs, Mojave Desert, Senator Dianne Feinstein, solar energy, solar power plants, Tessera Solar, wildlife on December 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
image: Tessera Solar In a follow-up to my New York Times story Tuesday on Senator Dianne Feinstein’s bill to ban renewable energy production in parts of California’s Mojave Desert, I take a look at some of the incentives in the legislation that could speed green energy projects: In Tuesday’s Times, I write about Senator Dianne [...]
