Cool Earth Solar attracts a Hot $21 Million in Series A Financing

Valentine’s Day funding leaked by CCTO two days early.
2008 California Clean Tech Open Launch will occur on April 1, 2008, in San Jose, California USA.

In COOL EARTH SOLAR CLOSES $21 MILLION SERIES A FINANCING, Cool Earth Solar (CES, http://www.coolearthsolar.com) announced the initial closing of a $21 million Series A round of financing today on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2008. Cool Earth Solar stated additional closings of this round may occur over the next 60 days.

Cool Earth Solar has developed a proprietary Concentrated PhotoVoltaic (CPV) technology that the company claims will achieve radical reductions in the material cost and weight of CPV versus competing high concentration photovoltaic systems. Furthermore, Cool Earth Solar will use their CPV technology to develop, build, and own solar power plants that can compete with conventional fossil fuel fired power plants.

Photo Credit: Cool Earth Solar

Dr. Eric Cummings, founder of Cool Earth Solar said:

Our goal from the very start was to find a clean energy generation solution that could address the global scale of the carbon problem. We discarded everything that couldn’t scale, relied on rare components, or had some other critical bottleneck. Ultimately, we developed a novel technology which radically reduces the amount of material in our system and balances labor and capital costs.

And Cool Earth Solar Chief Executive Officer, Rob Lamkin said:

Cool Earth Solar power plants will produce electricity at a cost lower than natural gas-fueled plants. Our innovative solar technology delivers economically as well as environmentally. We will apply the funding towards expanding our team, developing our technology, and building our state-of-the-art solar power plants. We are actively seeking exceptional engineers, scientists, and manufacturing designers.

Please see the label Cool Earth Solar for previous posts about the company.

The California Clean Tech Open (CCTO) released the following information about CES two days early in the Tuesday, February 12, 2008, California Clean Tech Open Newsletter:

CoolEarth, a 2006 Runner-Up of the Renewables Prize, inks deal for $21 million in private funding.
CoolEarth Solar, our 2006 runner-up for the California Investor Owned Utilities Renewable Prize (PG&E, SDG&E and SCE) has engineered a cost efficient solar power plant that competes economically with conventional fuels. Their new technology combines traditional photovoltaics with a new inflatable concentrator. The mirror concentrator is unique because it uses inflatable mirrors that are 400 times cheaper than polished aluminum mirrors. CCTO Founding Partner Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati assisted CoolEarth in closing the round.
www.coolearthsolar.com

The third annual 2008 California Clean Tech Open Launch will occur on April Fool’s Day, April 1, 2008, at the San Jose City Hall located in downtown San Jose, California USA. Details on the event hosted by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed will be posted in early March 2008 to the CCTO website, www.cacleantech.com.

While I cannot confirm this, I heard from a confidential source the animated video titled Inflatable Solar Collectors on YouTube (or see Solar Light Flashes: July 22, 2007) was developed independent of Cool Earth Solar by a solar enthusiast at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a Lucasfilm Ltd. company.