Donald Bren is nothing if not a planner, making the timing of the Irvine Co. chairman’s secret donations that started in 2013 and now top $100 million to the California Institute of Technology nearly as interesting as the gift itself.
Pasadena-based Caltech last week announced that Bren, a lifetime member of its board, had been for years funding the development of a new type of technology “capable of generating solar power in space and beaming it back to Earth.”
The project aims to “ultimately produce a global supply of affordable, renewable, clean energy.”
Around 2011, Bren said he learned about the potential for space-based solar energy manufacturing after reading an article in Popular Science. Two years later, he began his anonymous donations to the institute’s Space-based Solar Power Project (SSPP).
In between reading that magazine article and the donation, Irvine Co. made its only reported property investment in Pasadena. In 2012, it paid a reported $145 million for the Western Asset Plaza, an office complex about a mile from the Caltech campus.
“I have been a student researching the possible applications of space-based solar energy for many years,” Bren, 89, said in a statement last week. “My interest in supporting the world-class scientists at Caltech is driven by my belief in harnessing the natural power of the sun for the benefit of everyone.”
One example of his interest in new types of energy uses: In 2018, Irvine Co. upgraded a large portion of its office portfolio into what it called the “world’s first fleet of hybrid electric buildings.” They use Tesla Powerpack battery systems that charge during non-peak hours, to reduce the strain on the electric grid.
Pasadena-based Caltech said the gift was now being disclosed as SSPP nears a test launch of a prototype, which is expected in early 2023.
The timing of the news apparently has nothing to do with fellow multibillionaire Jeff Bezos space launch last month, though several media outlets noted the differences between Bren’s understated donations toward scientific advancements and the Amazon founder’s much-hyped space trip.
Caltech said Bren’s donations exceeded $100 million; other reports pegged the total giving from the head of OC’s largest real estate company at around $135 million.
It’s not the only $100 million funding announced in OC thus far in August. Last week, Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW), OC’s largest public company with a valuation now topping $70 billion, announced the establishment of a Social Impact Investment Fund to expand access to capital in underserved communities.
The $100 million fund was created as a new portfolio of investments “aimed at advancing racial equity through economic development, especially in predominantly Black and underserved communities in the United States,” it said. About $70 million of the fund has already been committed, according to the company.
“We believe that increasing the availability of capital in underserved areas can contribute to a virtuous cycle of job creation, wealth-building and other new opportunities for economic development, while also providing a return to investors,” said Scott Ullem, Edwards’ chief financial officer.
