Ausra Information Review

Ausra Solar plans to make solar power boring... They want to kill the excitement of home systems and portable solar devices by making mass solar production as affordable and convenient as coal and nuclear power are today. With any luck, this site Solar Power Authority will be out of business within three years because the opportunity for sustainable clean electric power in the US, and around the world, will have been realized!

ausra-solar.gifAusra Solar is a privately held, extremely well supported, solar electricity company located in Palo Alto near the famed Nanosolar headquarters. Having been founded in 2006 it has since received funding from Khosla Ventures (one of our favorite VC firms in the SF Bay Area) and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (the guys who funded Amazon.com, Electronic Arts, Genentech, Macromedia, Sun Microsystems, and Google to name a few).

So what's so great about this company? It's simple, they have created a way to use mirrors and water, much like the Solar One power station in Nevada, to efficiently create electricity from the sun. Sunlight heats the panels and is focused onto water which boils and creates steam power, just like an old fashioned locomotive train or a Stanley Steamer. Ausra builds solar power plants that use time tested conventional steam turbine generators to generate power at a price comparable to that of conventional fossil fuel power.

ausra-solar-panels.jpgThe name Ausra may remind you of Australia, and that isn't surprising. The technology in use at Ausra power plants was conceived and designed in the early 90's at Sydney University in Sydney Australia. The technology is now being used worldwide and it's comforting (unless you work in the solar industry) to know that the entire United States of America could be powered by an Ausra installation of less than 100 square miles (92 by 92 to be exact) and that type of installation could deliver energy at a nearly permanent rate! Just a simple dust off every once in a while, plug a leak in the steam pipes maybe... This kind of solution would reduce greenhouse gasses by nearly one half in the US! When partnered with electric cars like the Tesla using solar trees it could take that down to nearly 70 or 80%. Keep your eye out for this awesome company - Ausra Solar


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This page contains a single entry by Court Rye published on June 2, 2008 5:23 PM.

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