Big Nuclear Is Going Solar

French nuclear energy giant Areva announced on Monday that it is acquiring an American solar thermal startup company called Ausra.

This is Areva's first investment in solar power, and, according to a company executive, it's a strategic one. Areva chose to invest in Ausra's solar thermal technology rather than in other solar technologies because solar thermal power plants, like nuclear power plants, generate electricity by creating heat and spinning turbines with steam. Areva feels that it's engineering expertise will help it evolve solar thermal into a powerhouse renewable energy technology.

After raising more than USD 130 million from prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Ausra felt that it was poised to create that powerhouse on its own, as its focus a couple of years ago was to build and operate utility-scale solar thermal power plants. Most of the solar industry had a rough 2009, however, as electricity prices dropped and financing for big, risky projects - like the creation of utility-scale solar power plants - dried up. Ausra had responded by adjusting its business model and selling equipment to smaller-scale power generation projects, but now it appears to have re-adjusted that response and decided to dive back into the utility-scale power generation business, albeit with some help.

This should be an exciting partnership to watch. Maybe we'll remember it as the moment solar power went main stream.