Today global thinking on sustainability is undergoing a revolution. Whereas once we may have looked at water efficiency, alternative energy and land use as separate issues, today our understanding is growing that in order to truly address sustainability, we need to look at all three together. McKinsey & Company recently issued an important report on this subject: “Resource Revolution: Meeting the world’s energy, materials, food and water needs”. Aquate Group is one Israeli company at the forefront of this new approach. Aquate has developed a triple-purpose infrastructure solution that produces new water in reservoirs, generates solar energy, and increases agricultural land.

According to Israel NewTech, currently Israel manages to reclaim around 75% of its urban sewage water, which is mostly used for agricultural irrigation. Israel is the global leader in water reclamation usage, with other countries trailing far behind.

In order to ensure that reclaimed water reaches its destination in optimal form, reservoirs need to be protected from the sun, which causes evaporation and high water salinity. The ideal method for protecting reservoir water is to use reservoir covers, a proven solution. Top-standard reservoir covers offer two major advantages—they serve as both water reclamation facilities and as roofs for installing solar panels. These facilities not only protect the water in the reservoir, but also produce renewable solar energy without using up valuable agricultural land (as happens with large terrestrial solar applications). Aquate is currently leading the deployment of these next generation multi-purpose reservoir covers. The focus in the water and energy industries on resource efficiency and productivity explains why Aquate has been receiving plenty of attention from key stakeholders in governments, businesses, and NGOs.

Aquate was established in 2006 and has locations in Israel and the Unites States. Barak Yekutiely serves as CEO and Chairman, and works in conjunction with the company’s 26 shareholders, senior executives, and engineers. The Aquate team has over 30 years of experience managing reservoir cover projects and solar energy installations.

The company operates on the basis of BAT – Best Available Technology. Aquate assesses and integrates the best available technologies into its proprietary and engineered infrastructure to provide a tailored and fully-financed solution for each individual project in order to ensure maximum long-term performance. To facilitate this, Aquate runs its own technology validation plant in Israel and has an expert team covering all aspects of project creation—design, regulatory approval, finance, construction, and maintenance.

Aquate’s projects pipeline covers 10% of all existing water reservoirs in Israel. Select projects under development involve The Israel Electric Corp.; the enhancement of Israel’s first pumped storage hydroelectricity facilities in the Gilboa and Manara with Electra; and the Moshavei Hanegev Development Company, the largest agricultural company in Israel.

Recently, at Israel’s leading industry event—the WATEC Exhibition (International Conference on Water Technologies, Renewable Energy & Environmental Control), Aquate signed a ground-breaking agreement with Mekorot, Israel’s national water company.

According to the agreement, Mekorot will give Aquate a 24-year lease on a 25-acre reservoir. Both companies estimate that the deal will save 4 million cubic meters of water. Aquate plans to establish an integrated evaporative water reclamation cover system on the reservoir, as well as a six megawatt solar plant.

Due to global interest in Aquate’s MRP activities and their immense potential, London-based Ernst & Young has developed an economic model for MRP solutions, and The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is working on establishing guidelines for setting an international standard for MRP.

Aquate’s innovations are leading a fascinating niche for MRP solutions involving water, energy, and land resources. The opportunity for MRP solutions is immense – McKinsey & Company, in a November 2011 report, estimated the MRP market at $3 trillion.

Article appearing courtesy Israel NewTech.

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Israel has earned a leadership status in the international water arena, but to stay at the forefront innovation must keep pushing forward. A joint project by Israel NewTech, the Neaman Institute and the Israeli Export Institute has been launched in order to map out the needs for new water technology innovations in the largest industries in the world. The preliminary results will be presented in the beginning of next month at a conference at the Israeli Export Institute.

“Israel’s water sector must be very cautious not to rest on its laurels, but to continue to act to cement its leadership,” said Dita Bronitzky, CEO of Ormat, a leader in geothermal energy, at a recent conference run by The Marker magazine on environment and industry.

Israel NewTech, The Israeli Export Institute and the Samuel Neaman Institute for national policy research, are also thinking about how Israel can further leverage its success in the water sector, that’s why they have joined together to work on improving the competitiveness of Israel’s water sector. One of their joint projects maps different industrial sectors with high water use, which need technological innovations to increase efficiency, and even to survive in their competitive markets.

This joint research project was launched in July 2011 and is meant to stretch out over a year, led by Dr. Gilead (Gili) Fortuna, head of the Center for Industrial Excellence, and a senior research fellow from the Neaman Institute. Fortuna brings with him rich experience in Israeli industry, having held senior management positions in the past at TEVA and Israeli Petrochemicals, and he is also one of the entrepreneurs behind the successful water purification company Aqwise. Aiding in the project is Shiri Freund Koren, his research assistant.

“We examine international industries which are heavy consumers of water and whose growth rates can be significantly impacted by improved innovative water technology,” explains Fortuna, “For example the gas and oil production industries. Today their need for vast amounts of water greatly impacts production. The deeper the well the more water they need to consume in order to produce the gas or oil. The world always turned to the cheaper sources for gas and oil production, but today the situation necessitates turning to the more expensive source. One of the main reasons for this high cost is the huge expenditure on water use and treatment that the process demands.”

The research outlines seven industrial sectors which are heavy consumers of water and in need of innovative water technologies to make their processes more efficient:
1. Gas and Oil
2. Mining
3. The pharmaceutical industry
4. Heavy metal processing
5. The semiconductor industry
6. Food Industry
7. Tourism industry (hotels, swimming pools, spas, sites that serve global tourism)

The project is meant to bring a deeper understanding of each sector’s needs, while pinpointing the challenges that require solutions. In other words, the objective is to map needs in different industries in order to create market-focused Israeli solutions, which will be in demand globally.

In order to support the research endeavor the Samuel Neaman Institute is cooperating with Israeli academics, under the supervision of the noted water expert from the Technion (Israel’s leading technology university), Professor Raphael Semiat.

The first two chapters of the project, on the gas and oil production industries and the mining industry, will be presented to a list of “who’s who” in Israel’s water industry at a conference which will take place at the Israeli Export Institute on February 7th, under the title: Water Challenges in Industry – Leveraging your Technology. Dr. Fortuna emphasizes that his motivation to hold the conference now is to create an open ongoing dialogue with Israeli water companies and get their feedback and guidance. “This will make our work more business oriented to the industry’s real needs and its abilities to implement.”

In parallel to the research, practical steps have begun to be taken to implement the initial learnings, and thus Israel NewTech and The Israel Export Institute have begun to create connections and mediate with the mining industry. An Israeli delegation visited Chile recently, where there is a large mining industry which is in need of technological solutions (click here for the post on this visit).

In addition, the three bodies responsible for the research project are working on identifying local partners in the different target countries, in order to facilitate the penetration of Israeli water companies to those industries which were mapped out in the research as needing innovative technologies. Likewise, in each sector a consultant with practical experience on the ground is employed. For example, for the pharmaceutical industry Meirav Avigdor, who manages the ecological department at TEVA, will provide consulting. The project begins with research, but will result in successful business implementation.

Article by Israel NewTech.

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One of the biggest challenges in the water arena is lowering the cost of wastewater purification, which is a heavy consumer of energy. Israeli start-ups Diffusaire and Mapal have developed technologies which bring dramatic cost-savings to wastewater treatment facilities.

Wastewater Treatment – Background

In advertising for home water purification systems we’re used to seeing pure, crystal clear water, but in reality the water only stays looking like this for a very short while, and actually all the water we use quickly turn to sewage water – drinking water, bath water, water used in industry …everything. Wastewater treatment is a very central activity in the water arena. Wastewater treatment uses up 1.5% of all the energy consumption in the U.S., so we’re talking about a big guzzler of energy.

Wastewater that remains untreated goes on to contaminate land and water sources. It is absolutely essential to treat wastewater, and in most of the world wastewater is converted into water for agriculture (Israel holds the #1 position in the world with 75% of wastewater reclaimed).

Wastewater is treated in wastewater treatment facilities which can be divided into two main types: open basins, large and shallow, situated in cheaper land outside residential areas, and the smaller, deep concrete pools, located in urban areas, on more expensive, more crowded land.

The purification of the contaminants that are dissolved in the water is done through bacteria which gobble them up (“biological purification”) and just as in fish tanks there need to be water bubbles so that the fish get oxygen, it’s also necessary to supply the bacteria with oxygen so that they can go on doing their job. Therefore, wastewater treatment facilities include aeration systems, which function is to bring oxygen into the pool. Today, the fine bubbles diffusers systems, which use advanced systems to insert small oxygen bubbles into them facility, are becoming more and more popular.

The diffusers are pipe systems which bring bubbles from the bottom of the facility pool. It’s possible to install such systems only in facilities with a concrete floor and not in open air pools. Open pools usually have a mechanical top layer device installed, and this system uses up a lot more energy, because it necessitates ongoing, costly maintenance. Therefore, the industry prefers bottom pool systems. Either way, we’re talking about an energy guzzler – about 50% of the energy expenditure of the entire facility.

Two Israeli start-ups are showing excellent progress in the race to develop winning solutions to make airing of wastewater facilities less costly: Diffusaire and Mapal. Diffusaire has developed a next generation diffuser, an innovative under-floor airing system for wastewater facilities with a concrete floor, and Mapal developed a technology for covering and upgrading existing diffusers, in order to utilize them in places where before it was impossible to do so (open air basins without a concrete floor). The bottom line is that both companies’ solutions bring dramatic reductions in operational costs.

First steps in the market:

Diffusaire works out of the water incubator Kinrot Ventures. The technology that the Company developed multiplies the length of time that the bubbles stay in the wastewater, thus significantly increasing the oxygen supply in the process. According to the Company, this creates a 25% reduction in costs in comparison with other diffusers.

According to Yuval Suskind, Diffusaire’s CEO, the Company has completed testing and is now signing first agreements with two Israeli water utilities – the “Tkua” utility in the Judean area, and the “Mei Reket” utility in Tiberius. Up until this point the Israeli government has invested about half a million dollars in the Company, which is entering its third year of activity in the Kinrot incubator and is seeking out private investment of $2 million. The objective of the investment is to finance the projects in Israel, as well as to market the solution in Europe, North America and India.

The second Israeli company active in this sphere, Mapal, targets a different kind of wastewater treatment facility, the open air basins, in which as mentioned, it’s not possible to install under-floor systems. Mapal enables use of diffusers in open air basins, using a patented covering of the basin. Its solution makes it unnecessary to build pools with a concrete floor in order to use the gentle bubbles system, thus enabling dramatic cost-savings.

“In this way we reduce energy consumption by almost 70% in comparison to top layer airing systems,” says Zeev Fisher, one of the founders and the VP Business Development of Mapal. The Company’s technology is installed in the wastewater treatment facility in Israel’s Ramat Hasharon, which treats 10,000 cube meters of wastewater every day, “And there we achieved an energy saving of almost 40%,” says Fisher. Additionally, the Company has systems installed in Netanya, which treats 40,000 cube meters per day, and is in the final stages of an agreement with a large water utility in the UK, as well as in negotiations with a facility which treats 200,000 cube meters per day, and negotiations for the upgrading of 18 facilities in Lima, Peru.
Up to date, Mapal has raised about $3 million in investments, more then half a million of which was invested by the founders, and is today entering a third round of investment, of $5 million, in order to fund projects.
Both of these companies target different segments in the wastewater purification arena, but they have an important common ground. For one thing, both claim that their solutions can be implemented on working facilities, without the need to suspend activity, and with the existing systems staying on as backup for some time.

The second thing they have in common is the method of financing. Both companies have selected a financing system in which the companies themselves fund the system for the facility, getting their pay through the savings that the new solution brings to the facility. In this way the facility is saved having to raise funds to upgrade its system.

These two approaches make entry into agreements with water utilities, which are often conservative and risk-averse, much easier and smoother.

Article appearing courtesy Israel NewTech.

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In an important development on the intellectual property front, but with particular import for Israeli clean tech companies targeting the U.S. market for strategic partnerships and licensing, the Israel Patent Office (ILPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently announced a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot project between the two offices.

The PPH provides that an applicant receiving a ruling from the ILPO that at least one claim in an application is patentable may request that the USPTO expedite examination of corresponding claims in corresponding applications and vice versa (see USPTO PPH info here).

This pilot project, like other PPH agreements already in place between the USPTO and patent offices in other countries, promises to accelerate and improve the patent prosecution process for patent applicants with interest in procuring both U.S. and Israeli patents on their inventions.

While the potential benefits of the program are not limited to clean tech innovations, this pilot project provides a particular potential boon to Israeli clean tech companies and their investors, especially if such companies also leverage the existing “green patent” programs in force in both the USPTO and the ILPO. Israel remains a hotbed of clean tech innovation and development, while the US market continues to be one of the markets of choice for Israeli technology, along with China and India.

Combining the PPH pilot project with existing “green” patent programs in the ILPO and USPTO opens up exciting possibilities for clean tech innovators.

Savvy Israeli clean tech companies, and the burgeoning Israel clean tech venture capital (“VC”) community that finances those companies, should work with patent counsel and determine whether their innovations qualify for inclusion in either the ILPO’s “green patent” program (allowing priority examination from the ILPO for applications classified as “green” via applicant request by letter, without the need for extra fees) or the USPTO’s Green Technology Pilot Program (offering successful petition filers expedited first Office Actions for “green” inventions).

For strategically important inventions, inclusion in either program could allow for quicker patent issuance, thereby increasing the attractiveness of the technology to later-round investors, strategic partners, and potential licensing or enforcement targets.

As an example, a hypothetical Israeli clean tech company could accelerate an existing pending patent application in the ILPO, by requesting classification in the “green patent” program, and then see that patent issue with reduced pendency. The company could then take the newly-issued “green patent” and utilize the PPH pilot project to get expedited examination and potential issuance in the USPTO.

This approach could shave years off the patent prosecution lifecycle for such a company, and thereby open up intellectual property monetization opportunities earlier in the investment lifecycle as well.

The USPTO has not been shy about touting the benefits of PPH agreements, like the one it just entered into with the ILPO. Among the benefits highlighted by the USPTO for these types of arrangements are: (1) cost savings to applicants, on the legal and administrative fee front at least, because of shorter pendency and fewer Office Actions, (2) quicker examination of PPH applications, usually within a few months of acceptance of the PPH request, and (3) a much higher allowance rate (>90%) for PPH applications over that of non-PPH cases (<50%).

Israeli companies, of all stripes, including clean tech companies, targeting U.S. patents can now avail themselves of the aforementioned benefits, subject to the minimal requirements of the PPH pilot project.

The pilot project started July 1, 2011 and is scheduled to run for one year. If successful, there is a possibility that the term of the pilot project will be extended. Alternatively, if the pilot project is underutilized or proves a burden on resources, it can be terminated early at the discretion of the respective patent offices.

Clean tech companies interested in procuring U.S. and Israeli patents would do well to consider use of the PPH, and where possible an expedited “green” patent examination scheme, in order to obtain those patents in a shorter time at reduced cost. Similar strategies have been discussed with respect to other patent offices that host both PPH agreements with the USPTO and “green” patent programs – it is now Israel’s turn to get in the game.

Article by Gaston Kroub, a partner in the New York office of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP. Gaston serves as the co-chair of the Greentech Committee of the NYSBA’s IP Section and has been accredited as a LEED Green Associate. Gaston is a registered patent attorney whose practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and counseling.

Article appearing courtesy Green Patent Blog.

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A California-based start-up will begin selling electric cars in Israel next month that include a subscription package for a leased battery and the costs of recharging the vehicle.

Instead of owning the batteries, consumers will be able to purchase a subscription for a certain number of kilometers per year, much like cellphone owners purchase their minutes.

The company, Better Place, hopes the strategy will help the industry overcome one of the major challenges facing widespread adoption of electric cars: the limited range of existing battery technology.

Better Place will sell an electric sedan, made by Renault, that will have a range of about 100 miles per charge; for longer trips, car owners will be able to exchange batteries at swap stations located across Israel.

One package includes the cost of the vehicle and 25,000 miles per year for three years for $46,000.

According to Better Place, that subscription would end up costing consumers 35 percent less than purchasing and fueling a gas-powered vehicle over three years.

The subscriptions also include the installation of home charging stations.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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The push for energy efficiency has clearly become worldwide, creating new prospects for US green energy companies to pursue export and foreign partnerships.

One such opportunity comes from Israel, with the help of the United States-Israel Science and Technology Foundation (USISTF), a Washington-based non-profit organization.

Israel is not a country we hear much about in terms of energy opportunity. China, India, North America, South Korea, Japan – these countries tend to steal the headlines in energy news.

But Ann Liebschutz, the foundation’s executive director, says new frontiers are opening in Israel because of its drive to adopt clean energy and its expertise in communications technology and software – the foundation of smart grid. Moreover, Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist offers funding that US companies can benefit from when they partner with companies in Israel.

“In the energy efficiency space, Israel is uniquely positioned to provide services and products to US industry. Smart infrastructure and buildings — a lot of that is software driven. And that is where Israel’s core strengths are,” Liebschutz said. “If I were a US company, I would be looking to where the most significant research and development is taking place. Being able to plug into the emerging industry in Israel will produce a lot of assets for US companies.”

How do US companies tap into these opportunities?
One way is through partnerships that the USISTF is currently setting up between US states and Israel. Wisconsin was the first state out of the box, and now has a joint solicitation underway with the Israel government, available here. The two governments seek proposals from Israel/Wisconsin partnerships working on industrial and technological research and development. The goal is to develop innovative products or services that can be commercialized in the global market. The proposals are not confined to energy efficiency, but it is a sector that will be considered.

Winning proposals will receive financing from both Israel’s government and the Wisconsin Department of Commerce. The Israel partner can secure an interest free loan for up to 50% of project costs, plus special incentives for those ventures located in development zones. The Wisconsin partner is eligible for up to 50% of project funding from the state in the form of either tax credits or a low interest loan with deferred repayment schedules.

The USISTF also is in the process of negotiating additional partnerships between Israel and the states of Virginia, Maryland, Colorado and Oregon.

More details about the USISTF is available here.

Elisa Wood is a long-time energy writer whose work appears in many of the industry’s top magazines and newsletters. She is publisher of the Energy Efficiency Markets podcast and newsletter.

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Israel, a global cleantech powerhouse, is now attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in cleantech investment every year.

The country gets more from its soil, water, air, and sunlight than most other nations on earth.

Why has such a small country been able to position itself a world leader in cleantech?

The answer, I believe, is a combination of many factors: its history, attitude of the people, ingenuity, and challenges to survival.

According to my research, the following are major highlights of Israel’s cleantech leadership to date in 2010:

1. Israel is the Silicon Valley of water. Relative to its small size, Israel has devoted more resources to the development of waste water treatment and reclamation than any other country in the world. Seventy percent of its waste water is recycled, three times the figure of number two: Spain. Israel is the birthplace and world leader in drip irrigation, which has literally turned deserts into farmlands. The Israeli firm Netafim, a $500 million high-tech drip-irrigation giant, is a world leader in smart irrigation technology and has been credited with starting the drip irrigation revolution. Israel Newtech, which promotes Israeli clean energy and water technologies, has identified hundreds of water companies. It’s estimated that Israel’s water industry was valued at $1.4 billion in 2008 and could reach $2.5 billion by 2011.

The sector is supported by early stage private and government investment programs, such as the Kinrot incubator, 11 investments to date) and the Office of the Chief Scientist (several million dollars in early stage R&D grants), as well as large industrial players such as IDE Technologies, a global leader in water desalination and Mekorot, the country’s innovative technology-oriented water carrier.

2. Brain trust. Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to population in the world. Within its small borders is an enormous concentration of PhDs and engineers, bolstered in large part by the large immigration from the former Soviet Union. This concentration of minds in a relatively small geographical space creates a country-wide incubator where ideas are constantly tested in the coffee shops of Tel-Aviv and the hallways of universities. Israelis also benefit from compulsory military service, where early exposure to high-pressure environments develop team building and leadership skills and a focus on technology-oriented innovation, which has a direct correlation with the needs of the cleantech sector.

3, Necessity as the mother of innovation. Due to its location and terrain, Israel is a country that has had extremely limited natural resources since its inception. Israelis have therefore become experts at getting the most out of limited natural resources. Confronting adversity has trained Israelis to think outside of the box. “Israel is poor in natural resources and rich in brain capital. Clean energy bridges that gap. What Israel lacks in the ground it makes up with its people,” says David Anthony from 21 Ventures.

4. Leveragability of tech expertise to cleantech. As Glen Schwaber, Partner at Israel Cleantech Ventures, wrote in his article The Quest for Smarts, “Israel’s tech sector has flourished through the creation of core technology competencies that are world leading. These include, but are not limited to digital printing, semiconductors, power electronics, optics and software. Over the last two decades, multiple billions of VC dollars have poured into Israeli companies in these sectors, market leaders have emerged, and many of the world’s largest multinationals have bought companies and set up shop in Israel as a result. Israel’s ability to compete globally in cleantech markets will depend largely on our success in leveraging all this know-how … Israeli excellence in advanced optics and systems has spawned a number of very interesting utility scale solar companies.”

5. Capital. Just about every major US VC firm in Silicon Valley, from Battery Ventures to Greylock to USVP to Sequoia Capital, is prospecting across Israel for cleantech investments. All told, at least 40 venture funds, several of them American, manage more than $10 billion in Israel, with an increasing share of their allocations devoted to cleantech companies. We are also seeing strong players driving alliances between US VCs and Israel cleantech ecosystem with organizations like CICC and its Cleantech Initiative, which is acting as a conduit and catalyst for US Israeli technology transfer. The Initiative is to feature 10 leading-edge cleantech companies from Israel in Silicon Valley next week.

6. The Better Place factor. Better Place is Israel’s best known cleantech company, and it recently raised a further $350 million (see Better Place deal bested by Airtricity). Founded by Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi, the company is developing electric vehicle battery swapping infrastructure. Israel was the first country to sign on with Better Place, Since then, Denmark, San Francisco, Canada, Australia and Hawaii have also begun working with the firm. Better Place accomplished significant milestones in 2009, including debuting the a first compatible EV in partnership with Renault at the Frankfurt Auto Show.

7. The sun shines brightly over Israel. The solar radiation Israel receives is a driver of solar thermal companies. Siemens bought Israeli solar thermal pioneer Solel for $418 million, while BrightSource Energy has raised more than $160 million from investors, including U.S.-based VantagePoint Venture Partners, Google, BP’s investment arm, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase. Other notable solar thermal companies include Heliofocus, ZenithSolar, and AORA.

8 Kibbutz Pioneers. The foundation of Israel’s cleantech industry was laid with the beginning of the kibbutz (collective communities) movement at the start of the 20th century (see Israel’s cleantech kibbutzim pioneers). At that time, the land was mostly semi-arid, with a scarcity of water and pockmarked by mosquito infested swamps, so principles of sustainability and self-sufficiency were adopted from the outset so as to “make the desert bloom”.

9. Home grown Israeli VC community. Israel has a vibrant local VC community which includes Israel Cleantech Ventures, AquaAgro and Terra Ventures—three firms dedicated to investing in Israel’s cleantech sector. Having a vibrant local VC community also draws foreign money.

10. Momentum. Israel is fast becoming the cleantech incubator to the world. In proportion to its population, it now has the largest number of startup companies than any other country in the world except the U.S., with 3,500 companies, mostly in hi-tech. Exciting new cleantech startups to keep an eye on, in our opinion, that haven’t been mentioned already include Bio Pure Technology, BioPetroClean, CellEra, Emefcy, Enstorage, Greenlet Technologies, GreenRoad, GreenSun Energy, IQ Wind, Linum, Panoramic Power, Phoebus Energy, SolarEdge, Takadu, Technospin, Transalgae and Variable Wind Solutions.

As Al Gore stated in a recent visit, “the people of Israel can lead the way to renewable energy. With its unique geographical position, and cleantech know how, Israel is a natural leader in the field.”

Cleantech could well become Israel’s biggest export market. Other countries should take note.

Article by Shawn Lesser originally appeared at Cleantech Group. Shawn Lesser is the president and founder of Atlanta-based Sustainable World Capital, which is focused on fund-raising for private equity cleantech/sustainable funds, as well as private cleantech companies and M&A.

photo: Johnk85

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SunPower, Silicon Valley’s biggest solar panel manufacturer, announced Thursday an agreement to buy SunRay Renewable Energy, a developer of solar power plants in Europe and Israel, for $277 million.

Although based in Malta, SunRay is managed by Israelis, including CEO Yoram Amiga and Michael Barnea, Head of Legal and M&A. SunRay established a wholly-owned Israeli subsidiary, SunRay Israel Blue & White, which is working to develop 100 megawatts of solar photovoltaic projects.

Kobi Katz, the CEO of SunRay Israel, told The Marker the sale was a vote of confidence by SunPower in the Israeli solar market.

SunRay currently has 1,200 megawatts of generating plants in development in Italy, France, Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom and Greece. SunRay is owned by its management and U.S.-based Denham Capital, which bought control of the firm for $200 million in 2007.

SunPower and SunRay originally joined forces on Montalto, the largest power plant in Italy. “Our experience working with SunPower on Montalto and several other power plants in Italy convinced us that SunRay will be joining the global solar technology, performance and quality leader for solar power plants,” said Yoram Amiga, CEO of SunRay Group, in a statement.

Article appearing courtesy Cleantech Investing in Israel.

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Shai Agassi (left) and the team at Better Place have done it again: almost two years to the day after announcing its first car partnership and its first country deployment in Israel, Better Place today announced that it has signed an agreement with an HSBC-led investor consortium for new equity financing of $350 million. The deal marks one of the largest clean-tech investments in history and values Better Place at $1.25 billion.

This Series B equity financing round features participation from new investors including HSBC, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, and Lazard Asset Management. These investors will join existing Series A investors including Israel Corp., VantagePoint Venture Partners, Ofer Hi-Tech Holdings, Morgan Stanley Principal Investments, Maniv Energy Capital, and Israel Cleantech Ventures, among others, as shareholders of Better Place. For HSBC, which led the round with an investment of $125 million, the deal represents one of the largest financial investments of its kind by HSBC.

As part of the deal, Kevin Adeson, HSBC Head of Global Capital Financing, will join the Better Place Board of Directors, and HSBC will own approximately 10% of the company’s shares.

“Today marks the end of an extensive process with the outcome being a decision by one of the world’s largest, most conservative banks, HSBC, to take the validating step of investing in a private company intent on bringing innovation to the trillion-dollar automotive and energy industries,” said Shai Agassi, Better Place Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “The strong investment commitment and global relationships that HSBC, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Lazard Asset Management bring to the table combined with the continuing confidence from our original investors enables us to scale up globally and execute against our plan.”

In welcoming Adeson to the Board, Idan Ofer, Chairman of Better Place and Israel Corp., remarked, “Kevin and the entire HSBC team will bring more than just capital to the table. We expect that HSBC will help us to scale in Europe, China and beyond, and we’re already seeing the value that they are bringing to the company and the Board.”

Stuart Gulliver, Executive Director, HSBC Holdings and Chief Executive of Global Banking and Markets, said, “We believe the switch from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles will create future growth opportunities in the auto and utility industries, and we are delighted to take the opportunity of investing in Better Place to put HSBC at the heart of these developments. Better Place is a private-sector solution to the issue of infrastructure provision for electric cars and can succeed without government subsidy and without sacrificing consumer expectations for personal mobility.”

Better Place’s new board member, Kevin Adeson of HSBC, commented: “We are confident that Better Place has the technical and commercial solutions to allow for the mass adoption of electric cars in the near term. The Better Place switchable battery solution, which addresses the range limitation of fixed battery electric cars, will offer the consumer an affordable and attractive alternative to current combustion engine and hybrid vehicles. We expect the Better Place model to be widely adopted across many countries and cities, particularly in those markets with policies strongly favoring electric vehicle adoption.”

The financing allows Better Place to expand its geographic footprint while continuing to execute against its committed R&D and deployment milestones. The company intends to expand into markets where the business model economics and investor returns are optimized, notably in Europe and Asia.

Better Place says that it continues to meet its timetable for Israel and Denmark launch plans for the end of 2011 when the first Renault switchable battery electric cars hit the road. Better Place also will continue to execute against its strategy of early deployment projects in Australia and select North American markets a few months after the Israel and Denmark launches as planned.

Additionally, the company’s R&D team is currently testing each element of the Better Place solution in real-life scenarios around the world in a multi-phase cycle, beginning with the company’s managed EV network in Denmark, which began last December, and a Tokyo electric taxi project with battery switch station, which kicks off in April this year. These and other development milestones lead up to full-scale trials in the second half of 2010 and commercial launch in 2011.

Agassi added: “Our technology and solutions, together with our strong partnership with Renault, provide us at least a two-year time advantage over all other alternative energy vehicle approaches. Our solution is the only one that can scale to decrease countries’ oil consumption and significantly reduce emissions, while providing consumers with electric cars that are more convenient and affordable than internal combustion engine cars.”

“Better Place is a huge experiment in how you sell and fuel vehicles, and these investors are becoming convinced this will make money,” Rod Lache, an analyst at Deutsche Bank told the New York Times. “It is a financial validation. Now we need to see technical validation and consumer validation.”

The transaction is subject to approval by antitrust regulators and other customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2010.

Article by Jonathan Shapira, appearing courtesy of Cleantech Investing in Israel.

photo: btrplc

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HelioFocus Ltd., an Israel-based solar thermal systems start-up, has raised more than $10 million from China’s Zhejiang Sanhua Co. and existing investor IC Green Energy.

HelioFocus announced the investment last week at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, where HelioFocus is developing its solar thermal technology to boost electricity production of existing power plants.

HelioFocus CEO Ory Zik said Sanhua, the Chinese maker of appliance components whose stock is traded on the Shenzhen stock exchange, would be not just a financial investor in the company, but will also produce some solar thermal components.

“We will be able to reduce costs and move relatively quickly to manufacturing,” Zik told Reuters. “Components that can be made at lower cost in China will be produced there.”

Sanhua, which will hold 30 percent of HelioFocus, will invest $9.25 million directly in the company and will acquire $1.25 million worth of shares from its founders.

IC Green Energy, the renewable energy investment arm of holding company Israel Corp, is the largest shareholder in HelioFocus with a 40 percent stake. It will invest $2.3 million in HelioFocus alongside Sanhua’s investment.

The rest of HelioFocus is held by workers and management, including Sass Somekh, Co-Chairman of HelioFocus and Founder of Musea Ventures.

In 2008, HelioFocus raised a $10 million first round of financing from IC Green Energy, and the company is also a recipient of an $800,000 BIRD Foundation grant. The current investment from Sanhua and IC Green Energy values HelioFocus at $45 million.

Zik said HelioFocus, whose system converts the sun’s rays into hot air to produce electricity, will release its first product in 2012 and is working on a pilot project in Israel. Funds raised from Sanhua will be used by HelioFocus to continue its research.

“We believe that the thermo-solar market will grow significantly, together with the rapid global development and ongoing legislation in the clean energy market,” Yom Tov Samia, Co-Chairman of HelioFocus and president and CEO of IC Green Energy, said in a statement.

Jacky Eldan, Israeli consul general in China, said the door opened by Sanhua will pave the way for more cooperation and investments of Chinese companies in Israel.

HelioFocus’ financing announcement is the latest in a series of successes for Israeli solar thermal companies. Siemens AG bought Israel-based Solel Solar Systems Ltd. for about $418 million in October 2009, AORA Solar raised $5 million in February 2009, and BrightSource Energy, which conducts R&D through subsidiary BrightSource Industries Israel, has announced a series of mega projects in the U.S. over the past year

Congrulations to Ory Zik and the rest of the team at HelioFocus!

Article appearing courtesy of Cleantech Investing in Israel

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