ausra

1st October 2009
BRW
Science Entrepeneur Returns

Australian scientist Dr David Mills has been appointed inaugural entrepeneur-in-residence by the Victorian Endowment for Science, Knowledge and Innovation.

Starved of venture capital, Mills moved his solar thermal technology company, Ausra, to the United Staates.

Ausra opened a solar thermal manufacturing factory in Las Vegas last year and a small power plant in the desert north of Los Angeles. It is now preparing to build a larger power plant in central California, which will be able to power 120,000 homes.

Ausra is not forsaking its Australian roots and is also developing solar thermal projects in Queensland and New South Whales.

As entrepreneur-in-residence, Mills will deliver a series of lectures, including the Alfred Deakin lecture on October 6.

Mills will be focusing on a program concerned with climate change and renewable energy, as well as seeking to build closer ties with the state of California in developing climate change programs as a part of a memorandum of understanding signed by the Victorian and Californian governments in 2007.