Save Bette Midler, er, Mother Nature! [VIDEO]<\/a><\/p>\n Hipster habits that annoy the Earth [SLIDESHOW]<\/a><\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tby Todd Woody <\/p>\n
I’m waving the green flag of surrender, crushed by the organic
\ncotton-gloved fist of the enviro-public relations-industrial complex.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I will write an Earth Day column, my resistance broken by
\nthe ceaseless pitches from corporate PR people to include “in your Earth Day
\ncoverage” everything from how to “go green between the sheets [and] make your
\nlove life sustainable,” to a certain multinational beverage company’s
\nLEED-certified bottling plant, to a defense contactor’s environmental initiatives.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It just won’t be a column about any of those things.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As I fruitlessly explained to those who wouldn’t take their
\ndeleted pitches and unanswered phone calls as a sign of my lack of interest,
\nevery day is Earth Day for environmental reporters. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Photo courtesy of AmonixSo I’m going to write about something that in the pre-blog
\nera was known as news. On Earth Day eve, a Southern California solar company
\ncalled Amonix announced that it had raised $129.4 million from a group of
\ninvestors led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley’s
\nmost prominent venture capital firms and a leading green tech investor.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It’s a big chunk of change—one of the largest green tech
\ndeals of the year—and a sign that investors continue to see a significant potential
\npayoff in solar technology, even one that has been in development by Amonix for
\nthe past 20 years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That’s right—two decades. That’s several lifetimes in VC
\nyears.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Amonix makes concentrating photovoltaic power plants, known
\nin the business as CPV. Plastic lenses—other companies use mirrors—concentrate sunlight on tiny and expensive, but highly efficient solar cells.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Conventional solar panels concentrate the sun one time;
\nAmonix’s CPV panels—and those of some rivals—concentrate the sun 500
\ntimes. That solar intensity coupled with what is called a “multi-junction”
\nsolar cell allows Amonix’s systems to generate more electricity than standard
\nsolar panels in regions that receive intense direct sunlight.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(But you won’t be seeing Amonix’s CPV Solar Power Generator
\non rooftops. Each unit is as tall as a five-storey building and generates 72
\nkilowatts of electricity.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“CPV is hands down the most cost-effective for hot and sunny
\ndesert environments and will outperform other solar technologies,” says Brian
\nRobertson, Amonix’s chief executive.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But only some 19 megawatts of CPV have been installed
\nworldwide, compared to thousands of megawatts of conventional photovoltaic
\nsystems.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“If you look at the history of CPV as a technology, it has
\nbeen around several decades but the industry hasn’t taken off,” says Ben
\nKortlang, a partner at Kleiner Perkins who formerly was the co-head of Goldman
\nSachs’ alternative energy investment division.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
High costs and technological challenges—such as keeping
\nthe units cool—as well as bankers’ skittishness about financing bleeding edge
\ntechnology—limited CPV’s commercial appeal, according to Kortlang and
\nRobertson. But those obstacles appear to have been largely overcome and the
\ntechnology is starting to be deployed in the United States.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Robertson said Amonix has built 13 megawatts’ worth of CPV
\npower plants, mostly in Spain, which had offered generous subsidies for solar
\npower. Competitor SolFocus, a Silicon Valley startup, last month began
\nconstruction of a one-megawatt CPV farm at Victorville Community College in the
\nSouthern California desert and this week announced that it would supply its
\ntechnology for a 300-kilowatt array to be built at Alice Springs Airport in
\nAustralia.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Amonix has removed the key challenges that have held the
\nCPV back,” says Kortlang. “We’re now seeing Amonix on a rapid commercial ramp
\nup.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If that holds true, CPV could be a big boost to distributed
\ngeneration and change the calculus of deploying massive solar thermal power
\nplants in the desert Southwest. (Solar thermal farms use thousands of mirrors
\nspread over thousands of acres of land to focus the sun on liquid-filled
\nboilers that create steam to drive electricity-generating turbines.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Robertson says Amonix plans to build small-scale solar farms
\nthat generate between one and 20 megawatts and that can be plugged directly
\ninto existing transmission lines.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some solar thermal power plant projects have been stalled by
\ndisputes over their impact on wildlife, the landscape and limited water
\nsupplies. And while large-scale photovoltaic farms don’t consume water to
\ngenerate electricity, their lower efficiency requires huge areas of land for
\nthe deployment of solar panels.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Amonix and other CPV companies sidestep some of those
\npitfalls as the technology’s higher efficiency means a smaller footprint. No
\nwater is consumed to generate electricity and less water is used to clean the
\nunits as one can produce the same amount of power as hundreds of solar panels.
\nAn Amonix solar farm also can be built on terrain that is not flat, unlike
\nother solar thermal and photovoltaic power plants.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Robertson claims the capital costs of manufacturing Amonix’s
\narrays is about one tenth of those incurred by photovoltaic competitors, an
\nadvantage as the solar business becomes increasingly competitive with the entry
\nof Chinese companies into the U.S. market.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One potential problem for Amonix could be the sheer size of
\nits 77-foot by 50-foot solar arrays, which track the sun and which will be
\nvisible for long distances in the desert. Environmental groups already have
\nobjected to the impact of solar thermal projects on desert “view sheds.” <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But Robertson said so far he’s received no complaints. “To
\nbe honest, we’ve seen the opposite,” he said. “It’s about the gaudiest, most
\ngigantic statement you can make if you want to do solar.”<\/p>\n
Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n Save Bette Midler, er, Mother Nature! [VIDEO]<\/a><\/p>\n Hipster habits that annoy the Earth [SLIDESHOW]<\/a><\/p>\n