BrightSource Energy, Inc. is an Oakland, California based, corporation that designs, builds, finances, and operates utility-scale solar power plants.

In 2009, BrightSource Energy announced plans to build a 960 MW (1,290,000 hp) solar thermal power plant in Coyote Springs that would be on line by 2012.

[12][13] In December 2011, Google and KKR & Co. announced an agreement to invest in four California solar power PV plants with total capacity of 88 megawatts.

[17] In 2012, BrightSource Energy proposed to build the Hidden Hills Solar Electric Generating System Project near Charleston View, California.

[20][21] In September 2014, BrightSource ended its upcoming California projects, withdrawing its application for a solar thermal power plant at Palen, near Riverside.

Biologists, Native American groups, and advocates for Joshua Tree National Park were concerned that the bright light and heat of the Palen project's heliostats would prove fatal for birds.

[24] In September 2016, BrightSource signed a deal to sell its Ivanpah solar farm technology to a Chinese project owned by a state-run energy company.