About BrightSource (adapted from BrightSource prospectus):
BrightSource is a solar thermal technology company that designs, develops and sells proprietary systems that produce clean energy in utility-scale electric power plants. BrightSource systems use proprietary solar power tower technology to deliver cost-competitive, renewable electricity with characteristics highly valued by utilities, such as reliability and consistency. BrightSource systems are also used by industrial companies to create high-temperature steam for use in applications such as thermal enhanced oil recovery, or EOR.
BrightSource systems use fields of tracking mirrors, known as heliostats, controlled by their proprietary software to concentrate sunlight onto a solar receiver/boiler unit to produce high-temperature steam. Once produced, the steam is used either in a conventional steam turbine to produce electricity or in industrial process applications such as thermal EOR. By integrating conventional power block components, such as turbines, with BrightSource's proprietary technology and solar field design, electric power plants using the BrightSource systems can deliver cost-competitive, reliable and clean power when needed most. In addition, by integrating BrightSource's technology with natural gas or other fossil fuels through a process referred to as hybridization, electric power plants using these systems can further increase output and reliability.
While BrightSource primarily sells systems using their proprietary technology, they also act as the system architect for the layout and optimization of the solar field. In addition, they provide technical services related to the design, engineering and operation of their systems and may provide overall project development services. During the construction phase of a project, BrightSource receives revenue from the sale of their proprietary technology. For the projects where they lead development, they initially expect to own 100% of the equity in the projects. BrightSource intends to ultimately sell the majority of the equity in these projects to third parties while retaining a minority equity interest, as they did with Ivanpah.
This description is adapted from BrightSource prospectus. This description is not intended to be a recommendation to buy stock from this company. We do not claim that all of the statements above were researched and found to be true. We present them as a general description based on what the company has said about itself at the time that they submitted their prospectus for an IPO offering. To see the company's full description, view their prospectus.. 
