Germany and Israel reach bilateral agreements on cleantech cooperation

Germany and Israel have agreed to intensify cooperation in the areas of climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy, water and waste management, and environmental technology.

This is pursuant to a number of bilateral agreements signed by Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and the Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert, following inter-governmental consultations in Israel.

Highlights of these bilateral agreements include:

Economics

Israeli-German Investment and Venture Capital Events will take place within the next months and illustrate options for upgrading investment, in areas such as environmental technologies and energy. Both sides agreed to initiate joint projects to promote companies from both countries as leaders in energy efficiency.

Environment

Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Sigmar Gabriel and Environment Minister Gideon Ezra agreed to bilateral climate-change cooperation, which will focus on institutional capacity-building, professional training, the establishment of a voluntary greenhouse-gas accounting system and advancing programmatic Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Projects.

The joint consultations included an environment forum with Federal Minister Gabriel, Minister Ezra and Israeli and German businessmen in order to facilitate a prompt start to this important common effort concerning climate change.

Water Management

In the field of water supply and distribution the two delegations discussed options for cooperation. One important reference point is Israel's experience through Mashav, the Center for International Cooperation within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, regarding water and irrigated agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions and Germany's strong commitment, in particular towards water supply.

Computerized Electricity Systems raises $3.75m from AquAgro Fund

"Globes" reports that AquAgro Fund has made its second investment, investing $3.75 million in Computerized Electricity Systems Ltd. (CES). AquAgro declined to disclose the company value for the investment, but market sources believe that it was more than $10 million, before money.

CES's technology aims to replace the household electricity box, enabling electric utilities to reduce the demand on the grid during peak hours in a uniform and equitable way for all customers, thus avoiding the need for initiated blackouts and brownouts of entire neighborhoods.

AquaAgro made its first investment in January, investing $4 million in Advanced Desalination Technologies Ltd. AquaAgro has also set up Aqua Lab, which will invest in early-stage cleantech start-ups.

CTO Lupu Wittner founded CES in 2002. Based in Netanya and managed by CEO Yaron Sheinman, CES has 15 employees in Israel, mostly R&D staff. A representative in the US handles business development.

South Africa-based "Engineering News" reports that CES's technology has been successfully tested in Israel by the Israel Electric Corporation, in South Africa by state power utility Eskom, and in the US by the Energy Power Research Institute.

In a lengthy interview with Engineering News, CTO Lupu Wittner says that the company plans to install its product in South Africa beginning in March, initially importing systems from Israel, with a long-term plan of creating a manufacturing facility in South Africa.

Homes that consume the highest amount of electricity are the targeted clients for the product, says Wittner.

"If two-million electricity customers with high consumption accept a 20% saving structure through this system, Eskom could potentially save to 4,000 MW."

Power Electronics featured in Ha'aretz

Power Electronics Systems (PES), a leading provider of energy-efficiency solutions, is profiled this week in Ha'aretz. (See here.)

PES has developed a range of products that improve energy-efficiency for lighting, HVAC and electric motor applications. For example, its Lighting Energy Controller (LEC) systems reduce energy consumption from lightbulbs by 20-30% and have been adopted by customers such as IBM, Tesco, and municipal governments throughout Israel.

Founder and Chairman Shimon Limor estimates that if Israel were to adopt his company's technology on a national level, it "could save NIS 2.8 billion in superfluous spending on electricity and reduce air pollution by 2.6 million tons of coal."