AORA Solar raises $5m for solar thermal technology

AORA Solar, a Yavne, Israel-based developer of solar thermal technology, announced today it has closed a $5 million Series A funding round led by EZKlein Partners, EDIG Construction, and L&Q Solar, a group of international solar energy investors.

Aora, formerly known as EDIG Solar, will use the funds to commission a commercial hybrid solar thermal gas-turbine power station, expected to begin operations by the end of March in Kibbutz Samar in Israel's Arava region. Work has already started on the half-acre site, which is expected to have the capacity to produce 100 kilowatts of electricity and 170 kilowatts of heat, said Shimon Klein, managing partner of EZKlein, as reported by Cleantech Group.

Funds will also be used to develop manufacturing capabilities and market expansion and to further R&D efforts.

"We believe that Aora's technology will be a ‘game-changer' in the solar thermal energy sector as it will seize market share from the companies which propose to build giant, remotely located solar thermal power plants," said Shimon Klein.

COO Yuval Susskind told Cleantech Group that the company is targeting an untapped market that's less impacted by the current credit crunch than massive installations, such as those planned by BrightSource Energy.

"The solar industry is segmented into two themes: there's the photovoltaics that you put on homes, and on the other hand there are the huge solar companies out in the desert," Susskind said. "In the middle there's nobody working on providing 100 kilowatts to 5 megawatts of solar thermal and doing it close to people's homes."

AORA's system consists of a field of mirrors that track the sun, focusing sunlight onto a proprietary 30-meter high tower that contains a solar receiver that heats air to 1,000 degrees Celsius and water to 80 degrees Celsius. The heated air is used to run a standard 100-kW gas turbine engine. The electricity and heated water can then be sold to utilities or industrial clients.

The plants are expected to run 24 hours a day, using the hybrid gas turbines to generate power during the night or inclement weather. The turbines can operate on a variety of fossil fuels and biofuels, including diesel, gasoline, natural gas and biodiesel.

AORA plans to use part of the new capital to further R&D and start its manufacturing plant for the power conversion unit and turbine in Israel. Other components of the plant would be off-the-shelf products, Klein said. In six months or so, AORA plans to seek $10 million to $50 million in additional funding to scale the manufacturing and operations, Susskind said.

AORA plans to derive revenue from selling the proprietary components and partnering with local companies to get the solar projects built around the globe. The company has completed a pilot unit in Nanjing, China, as reported by Cleantech Investing in Israel in this post last year.

AORA recently changed its name from EDIG Solar. Founded last year, the company is based on technology developed by Prof. Jacob Karni, director of the Center for Energy Research at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel.

Susskind said he has ignored calls to move the business to Silicon Valley, at least while the business is at its early stage with just six employees.

"We're here because the climate is good for solar technology, and a lot of academic knowledge is being developed in solar," he said. "Being here right now is the best place to be for this stage of our company. All the brightest minds are here."

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IC Green Energy invests in HelioFocus

Published reports confirm that IC Green Energy, the cleantech investment subsidiary of Israel Corp., has invested in solar thermal startup HelioFocus Ltd. I first reported on the possibility that HelioFocus was an IC Green Energy portfolio company in a post several weeks ago.

According to Globes, IC Green Energy contributed $10 million out of the $20 million that HelioFocus raised in its latest financing round. Ha'aretz, however, reports that IC Green Energy purchased control of HelioFocus for $5 to $6 million.



Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Ness Ziona, Israel, HelioFocus is engaged in the development of modular, high efficiency Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) systems. These systems will convert sunlight to grid electricity using parabolic solar concentrators.

Prof. Sass Somekh, a veteran of Applied Materials and a founder of Musea Ventures, is the Executive Chairman of HelioFocus. The company's technology is reportedly based on the research of Prof. Jacob Karni of the Weizmann Institute. Dr. Ory Zik is the CEO of HelioFocus.

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HelioFocus orders microturbines for concentrated solar power systems

IC Green Energy and Yom Tov Samia

HelioFocus orders microturbines for concentrated solar power systems

Capstone Turbine Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, announced last week that it had received an order from Israeli startup HelioFocus for the development and modification of Capstone Turbine's C65 MicroTurbine to operate on solar energy.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Ness Ziona, Israel, HelioFocus Ltd. is engaged in the development of modular, high efficiency Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) systems. These systems will convert sunlight to grid electricity using a parabolic solar concentrator to focus the sun's energy into a solar receiver that provides enough heat energy to drive Capstone's modified turbine and power electronics.

HelioFocus does not have a web site, and little information about the company is publicly available. According to one web post, HelioFocus is a portfolio company of IC Green Energy, the cleantech investment subsidiary of Israel Corp.

The company's technology is apparently based on the research of Prof. Jacob Karni of the Weizmann Institute, located in nearby Rehovot. Indeed, Yeda, the Weizmann Institute's technology transfer office, reveals that Prof. Karni has developed a high efficiency concentrated solar receiver available for licensing.

I wrote about IC Green Energy, and the investment strategy of Yom Tov Samia, its Director, back in May.

Under the initial phase of development, Capstone will make modifications to the existing microturbine to operate on superheated air and integrate the microturbine with the HelioFocus solar concentrator system.

Capstone Turbine has been evaluating product development opportunities to combine the benefit of the microturbine and solar concentrator technologies. The traditional Capstone microturbine engine uses gaseous or liquid fuels to heat combustion air. The HelioFocus Solar Concentrator focuses enough sunlight energy to provide an equivalent amount of combustion heat to drive the microturbine. This fuel free renewable solution offers higher solar conversion efficiencies over traditional solar photovoltaic systems, the company said. In addition the increased power density of this system should reduce the amount of required real estate for siting these systems.

"Our company's current focus is continued product development through strategic partnerships with forward looking companies," said Dr. Ory Zik, one of the Founders and CEO of HelioFocus. "Utilizing Capstone's microturbine, our mutual goal is to develop a system that can operate entirely on sunlight."

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IC Green Energy and Yom Tov Samia

EDIG Solar provides hybrid solution for cloudy days

Israel21c reports that Israeli company EDIG, through its subsidiary EDIG Solar, plans to make solar energy a viable power alternative through the use of low-cost hybrid generators. By using a hybrid power plant, on rainy days the company's solar turbines can switch over and run on traditional or alternative fuel.

"It's modular, meaning it can easily be increased in size, and it is flexible in terms of fuel use. It can be powered by bio-diesel, bio-gas or fossil fuels," explains the company's CTO Pinhas Doron, an engineer.

Based on the research of Prof. Jacob Karni, director of the Center for Energy Research at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, EDIG's technology attracts the sun and concentrates it by way of tiny mirrors on the ground.

The thermal energy generated by the sun drives turbines in a tower, the same turbines that can be powered by traditional fuel, the moment a cloud passes overhead, or at night when the sun sets. And in doing this, "our hybrid solution addresses the issue of intermittency of solar radiation," says Doron.

EDIG recently built a 100 kW pilot plant demonstration unit in Nanjing, China. It included a power conversion unit (a solarized gas turbine and a solar receiver), which was installed on a tower, and a field of heliostats (sun-tracking mirrors). The unit was fully operational and supplied power to the local electric grid, says Doron. "We proved our concept - we connected to the grid and operated seamlessly," he reports. The next step is building a plant in Israel's Arava Desert, which should be ready by next year.
While the company is not reinventing the "solar" wheel, its IP rests in at least two areas, says Doron. It's solar "receiver" is based on patented Weizmann technology, and the modifications on the turbine, which allows it to switch energy sources and at high temperatures, without the user noticing it, was difficult to overcome.

For more information on EDIG Solar, see the rest of this article from Israel21c.