Going modular with eSolar

Solar thermal got another boost today, with investors pouring $130 million into Pasadena, Calif.-based eSolar, which is touting a modular, scalable system and plans to have a pilot plant up and running in Southern California later this year.

"We can build these units smaller. This lets us build closer to cities. It lets us avoid some of the traditional roadblocks associated with large transmission projects," Robert Rogan, exec. VP of corporate development at eSolar, told the Cleantech Group.

"And we've got the ability to scale this very rapidly through our existing manufacturing."

Rogan wouldn't disclose the company's manufacturing partners, but said, "We're already producing the equipment as we speak."

The company said it has secured land rights in the U.S. to support the production and transmission of over 1 gigawatt of power.

"We're developing many projects in the southwest United States right now, but we're also working globally to figure out how to get this technology rolled out at a worldwide level as soon as possible."

The company grabbed headlines last November when Mountain View, Calif.-based Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) said it was working with eSolar as part of the search giant's newly formed Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal, or RE<C, initiative (see Google creates renewable R&D group).

Pasadena's Idealab, Google.org, and Westport, Conn.-based Oak Investment Partners led eSolar's funding round.

Google.org is the philanthropic arm of Google and is handling the investment side of the RE<C program. In January, Google.org said it invested $10 million in eSolar (see eSolar gets Googled).

Rogan said that investment is included in the funding round announced today, but did not give a breakdown of the total investment.

The solar thermal system from eSolar is part of Google's aim to produce a gigawatt of renewable energy that is cheaper than coal within the next few years.

Google has said it believes it needs to get in the range of 1 to 3 cents per kilowatt hour for solar or other renewables to be competitive with coal.

Rogan said his company has been very cost conscious.

The company said its heliostat mirrors, designed to track the sun, were made to fit into shipping containers to keep transportation costs low, and are pre-assembled at the factory to minimize on-site labor.

Take a look at some of the mirrors here >>

"Minimizing the shipping costs on the hardware is just one example of that very tightly cost-based approach to designing," said Rogan.

Each of eSolar's modules, which it said can pump out 33 megawatts of power, consists of several thermal receiver towers, each with a field of heliostat mirrors.

The system uses direct steam generation, pumping water to a central structure with a steam turbine and generator.

"Our towers are very short. This, again, makes them very easy to assemble on site, faster to install, and ultimately much lower cost than building a 30-story skyscraper," he said.

The company has also cut the amount of steel and concrete used in its systems by keeping the heliostats small and low to the ground, reducing their wind profile.

"Another nice benefit of this pre-fab, modular, scalable approach is that we can incorporate, in the future, all varieties of storage."

"Currently, we're not discussing our specific storage plans, except to say that we don't view it as being a barrier to entering the market," he said.

ESolar, which got its start at business incubator Idealab, is the latest in a long line of companies pulling in cash over the past year for solar thermal.

Phoenix-based Stirling Energy Systems grabed its first big round of funding just last week (see Stirling engines meet solar power in the desert).

Stirling Energy raised $100 million from Dublin, Ireland's NTR, a developer and operator in renewable energy and sustainable waste management.

In January, Solel Solar Systems, headquartered in Beit Shemesh, Israel, took in $105 million from London investment manager Ecofin (see Solel takes in $105M for solar thermal).

Solel is planning to build a 553 MW solar park in California's Mojave Desert (see Solel's new 553 MW solar thermal plant).

Palo Alto, Calif.'s Ausra has also pulled in some cash, grabbing $40 million from Khosla Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers last year after moving its operations to the U.S. from Australia (see Ausra, FPL, PG&E heat up solar thermal).

Rogan said eSolar CEO Asif Ansari had been working with Idealab head Bill Gross on a variety of solar issues over the past five years before Ansari and Gross founded eSolar in early 2007.

Gross serves as chairman of eSolar.

Idealab also backs Kennewick, Wash.-based Infinia, which is developing a Stirling engine-based concentrating solar power system, and Pasadena's Energy Innovations, a solar photovoltaic developer.

Once eSolar's pilot plant is operational, Rogan said the company is targeting commercial scale projects "very quickly" after that.