HelioFocus raises $10m from China's Sanhua and IC Green Energy

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!

Related Posts:

DOE awards grant to HelioFocus

IC Green Energy invests in HelioFocus

HelioFocus orders microturbines for concentrated solar power systems

IC Green Energy and Yom Tov Samia

Helioris Solar partners with Rotem Industries on solar thermal R&D

Helioris Solar Systems, a stealthy cleantech startup, is working with the Rotem Renewable Energy Center on an innovative patent-pending topology for solar thermal fields.

The proposed topology apparently combines the benefits of parabolic trough systems, employed by companies such as Solel, and tower systems used by companies such as BrightSource Energy. According to a report by Rotem Industries, the Helioris Solar approach allows the use of dual-axis tracking heliostats and small aperture thermal receivers, thereby increasing optical and thermal efficiency while maintaining a modular scheme of the solar field.

The founders of Helioris Solar are Yossi Yatir and Oded Mor. Yossi Yatir, according to his LinkedIn profile, is an Entrepreneur in Residence at cleantech incubator Precede Technologies, and Yatir and Mor worked together at Chromatis Networks in the late 1990s.

The report notes that Yatir and Mor have filed a provisional patent for their solar topology and an innovative solar thermal receiver, which will be designed by Rotem Industries.

Rotem revives development of high temperature solar receiver

In a possibly related development, Rotem Industries has also announced that it is reviving the development of a volumetric central air receiver for utilization of solar thermal power.

The technology was originally developed as part of a joint project between Rotem Industries, the Weizmann Institute of Science and Ormat in the early 1990s.

Related Posts:

Rotem assists with plans for 50 MW solar power station at Nevatim Airbase

Rotem Industries and Midwest Research Institute to establish renewable energy technology center in Dimona

BrightSource / Luz II dedicate Negev Solar Energy Development Center

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."

Related Posts:

Arava Power solar project approved for Negev Kibbutz

Edig Solar provides hybrid solution for cloudy days

21Ventures and Quercus Trust award grant to support solar research at Weizmann Institute

21Ventures and the Quercus Trust announced last week that they have awarded a $200,000 grant to support the solar energy research of Professor David Cahen of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. The grant will be used to further the exploratory research of novel approaches to harness solar energy in less expensive and more efficient new ways and to explore approaches for making better use of existing solar energy technologies.

“Professor Cahen’s ground breaking work has the potential to make a significant impact on the availability and the ultimate use of alternative energy sources, in this case, solar energy. Such efforts support the goal of 21Ventures and the Quercus Trust to secure a cleaner and healthier environment worldwide,” said David Anthony, Managing Partner, 21Ventures.

One area that the research will focus on is exploring the potential of various long-term light management approaches. That direction will be complemented by research on potentially low cost, novel ways to collect more energy from sunlight and the means of using that energy in daily life.

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York, 21Ventures is a venture capital fund which invests in seed, early stage technology and publicly traded companies in the physical security, clean energy and mobile software markets.

The Quercus Trust, which does not have a web site, has quietly become one of the world's leading cleantech investors. Led by David Gelbaum, a former hedge fund manager at Princeton/Newport Partners, the Quercus Trust reportedly had a 20-company portfolio of clean energy stocks worth more than $400 million as of December 2007. Earth2Tech provides a breakdown of ten cleantech venture funding deals made by Quercus in the first quarter of 2008 alone.

David Anthony and David Gelbaum both sit on the Board of Directors of WorldWater and Solar Technology Corportation.

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."

Related Posts:

IC Green Energy and Yom Tov Samia

Renewable energy park to be built in Arava Valley

The Jerusalem Post reports that a renewable energy park is to be established in Kibbutz Ketura, located 50km north of Eilat in the Arava Valley. The park will be used for research, education and tourism. Believed to be the first of its kind, the park for renewable energy and energy saving is being established at the initiative of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and the Arava Power Company.

The research center will be a joint project of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Weizmann Institute of Science, and will be funded with donations from the Toronto community and the Jewish National Fund, among others.

According to its web site, the Arava Power Company (APC) will produce renewable energy and sell it to residents of the Arava and the Israel Electric Company. "The creation of Arava Power is part of a regional initiative to make the Arava the Silicon Valley of renewable energy." The company is negotiating for a regional exclusive on a new photovoltaic solar panel technology and is also setting up an independent affiliate across the border in Jordan.

Ed Hofland is Arava Power's Chairman, and Yossi Abramowitz is its President. Abramowitz blogs at Peoplehood.org, and, in September 2007, he gave a sermon on why developing solar power is part of the mission of the Jewish people. His words are inspiring, and I highly recommend reading the post.

For a sense of what Abramowitz has to say, and the goals that the Arava Power Company has set for itself, here is a passage from his sermon:

"The building of solar fields in the footsteps of Moses and the Israelites is certainly a worthwhile task (and may explain the glow on his face). Yet it can be much more. Can Israel become the first western economy to make the switch from carbon-based to solar based? Can the Jewish people become carbon neutral by 2020..."

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.