About Us

BrightSource Energy’s Mission

BrightSource Energy’s mission is to make solar energy cost competitive with fossil fuels by developing, building, owning and operating the world’s most cost-effective, environmentally-responsible and reliable large-scale solar energy projects.

Delivering on solar’s promise

BrightSource Energy, Inc. provides clean, reliable and low cost solar energy for util­ity and industrial companies worldwide. The BrightSource team combines nearly three decades of experience designing, building, and operating the world’s larg­est solar energy plants with world-class project development capabilities. Bright­Source’s solar plants lead the industry in environmental design and help custom­ers reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. Headquartered in Oakland, Calif., BrightSource Energy is a privately held company with operations in the United States, Israel and Australia.

The company is actively developing more than 4GW of solar power projects in Southwestern states – enough to power 1.4 million homes. BrightSource now has more than 2.6 gigawatts of power under contract, including the two largest solar power agreements ever – 1,300 megawatts with Southern California Edison and 1,310 megawatts with Pacific Gas & Electric Company. The company’s Solar Energy Development Center in Israel’s Negev Desert is demonstrating BrightSource’s Luz Power Tower (LPT) 550 technology and producing the world’s highest temperature and pressure solar thermal steam.

A history of solar expertise

The BrightSource Energy team blends internationally-renowned solar thermal technical experience with world-class finance and project development capabilities. BrightSource’s technical team pioneered solar energy nearly three decades ago as Luz International, Ltd. - the first company in the world to build commercially viable solar thermal plants. In 2006, Luz’ technical leadership joined forces with a world-class finance and project development team - which has collectively developed, constructed, and managed more than 20GW of power projects worldwide - to form BrightSource Energy. The combined experience of BrightSource Energy’s technical and commercial teams, coupled with its breakthrough LPT 550 technology, has positioned the company as a world leader in solar thermal energy.

Clean, reliable, low-cost energy

BrightSource Energy’s proprietary LPT 550 energy system is based on proven power tower technology. The system uses thousands of small mirrors to reflect sunlight onto a boiler atop a tower to produce high temperature steam. The steam is then piped to a conventional turbine, which generates electricity. In order to conserve precious desert water, the steam is air-cooled and piped back into the system in a closed-loop, environmentally friendly process. This fully integrated energy system is designed to offer the highest operating efficiencies and lowest capital costs in the industry. The result is a large-scale solar system that delivers clean, reliable energy at a cost competitive with fossil fuels.