Apr 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Matt Nauman San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

A Pasadena company with plans to make small-scale solar power plants announced Monday it had raised $130 million, including money from Google's charity wing.

ESolar said it would use the money from Google.org, Idealab and Oak Investment Partners to make and install prefabricated solar-thermal power plants near towns and cities. The company said its plants will generate up to 33 megawatts, typically enough power for up to 25,000 California homes, and that several of these plants could be connected to create a larger facility.

ESolar would not disclose the cost of its plants.

Larger solar-thermal utility plants, being developed in the desert by companies such as Palo Alto's Ausra and Oakland's BrightSource Energy, require more land, cost more and take longer to build, said Rob Rogan, eSolar's executive vice president of corporate development. How much more? BrightSource has said that building five plants capable of producing 900 megawatts in the Mojave Desert would cost between $2 billion and $3 billion.

"The key attribute of our technology is that it's economical at that smaller size," Rogan said. "We can build those massive developments, but we also can build smaller developments closer to where power is consumed."

The company said it will begin operating a plant in Southern California later this year, at an undisclosed location.

ESolar's funding includes $10 million

from Google.org, the search company's philanthropic arm. It previously disclosed the funding as well as $10 million to Makani Power, an Alameda wind company, as part of its Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal (RE

Contact Matt Nauman at mnauman@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5701.