Ausra Gets $25.5M to Pursue New Direction

Greentech Media reports that solar thermal company Ausra is continuing to refocus on equipment for building CSP power plants, rather than trying to build plants itself - Ausra Gets $25.5M to Pursue New Dreams.

Ausra, the solar-thermal equipment maker who recently changed its business plan, said Tuesday night it had raised $25.5 million.
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The Mountain View, Calif.-based company received the money from Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers, KERN Partners, Generation Investment Management and Starfish Ventures. It was only last October when the company said it had raised $60.6 million (see Ausra Bags $60.6M to Finish Plant).

Ausra plans to use the money to pursuit the new business strategy it announced in January this year. The company, which had aspired to be a power producer, decided that developing large power plants was too costly and beyond the capabilities of a startup company (see Inside Ausra's Big Change).

Instead, the company would focus on developing and selling mirrors, pipes and other components primarily for building steam-generating facilities. The move would broaden Ausra's customer base to include oil companies, food processors, hospitals and power plant operators.

The startup already has a deal to supply the equipment to a coal mine operator in Australia.

Ausra's technology involves erecting mirrors that concentrate the sun's light for heating up water in pipes to produce steam. It has a factory in Las Vegas that can produce 350 megawatts worth of equipment per year.

The company stills has a contract to deliver solar power from a 177-megawatt plant to Pacific Gas and Electric (see Ausra to Build 177-Megawatt Solar-Thermal Plant). In January, the company said it remained committed to finishing that project.