GE just invested in them. Now, Guy Sella, founder and CEO of Israeli company SolarEdge, is planning a revolution. Don’t be alarmed though, this one isn’t dangerous. His goal is to transform the way photovoltaic systems are now operated, in terms of efficiency, safety and cost.

“People haven’t been looking at photovoltaic systems from a holistic point of view,” Sella tells ISRAEL21c. “Panel manufacturers care only about the panels and panel conversion efficiency. The people that develop classical inverters only care about the efficiency of the inverter. I asked: can we create a system that is better than we currently have?”

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There had been rumors about it earlier this weeks on Globes, Israel’s financial newspaper. But the story was took down, I guess because of a leak.

Now General Electric has unveiled its good news finally, according to ABC News, that it is investing in the Israeli solar technology company SolarEdge. The company allows photovoltaic panels, which convert sunlight into power, to operate up to 25% more efficiently.

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The Turkish Statistical Institute announced that the Turkish economy shrank 13.8% and that the unemployment rate increased to 14.9% in the first quarter. Despite these difficult economic conditions, the Turkish wind industry is still one of the fastest growing industries in the country. One reason is that Turkey may face electricity shortages in the near future, furthermore Turkey has just ratified [the] Kyoto agreement which is going to result in carbon emission reduction targets for the post 2013 period.

Among other renewable resources, wind has been the most popular and most approachable power source in the last four years. The use of wind power started around 1,000-1,200 AD in Anatolia, as early as in other European countries. However, Turkey’s development throughout the centuries has not been as fast as that of its counterparts. At the time when Turkey installed its first 0.5 MW wind turbine in Izmir in 1998, Germany had already installed almost 3,000 MW.

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With all the discussion surrounding the US economic stimulus package, which will nudge into Europe and the rest of the globe in the coming months, I have been tracking the job boards on sites like CleanTechies to see if I can spot a trend in the sort of people that are being attracted to clean tech organisations around the world.

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