TechnoSpin Wind raises $8m from 21Ventures

TechnoSpin Wind has raised $8 million from US venture capital fund 21 Ventures, according to a report in "Globes". The company declined to disclose its valuation for the fund raising round.

TechnoSpin was founded in 2004 but not incorporated until the end of 2007 at the start of the latest funding round. The company was funded initially by its three founders, CEO Maxim Rakov, VP Business Development Natalie Barlev, and Vladimir Kotler, CTO and inventor of the company's technology.This is 21 Ventures' third investment in an Israeli cleantech startup, following previous investments in BPC BioPetroClean and 3GSolar (formerly OrionSolar).



TechnoSpin currently has two areas of activity. One is the development and production of rotors for small wind turbines which, theoretically, should also be suitable for use in large wind turbines. The company is already negotiating the first sales of these products which, it claims, are not limited to areas with strong winds, are cheaper to produce, and can be assembled anywhere in the world. TechnoSpin's small turbines will most likely compete with those produced by the industry's two leading players, Bergey Windpower Co., and Southwest Windpower of the US.

TechnoSpin's other field of activity is the development of wind turbine gears. Turbines are operated by a generator and a gearbox, which produce torque that is then converted into electrical power. The gearbox is, essentially, a mechanical mechanism which enables the torque to be generated with the minimum loss of power.

According to Rakov, "Our goal is to launch a pilot with the gear with 11 of the world's leading turbine manufacturers, and if it is a success, the sky's the limit, since it won't be limited solely to wind turbines, but will also be suited for use in aircraft, cars, washing machines, the mining industry, metalworking - any mechanical facility that produces electricity.

"As for the small turbine, we'll be making a launch in May when we erect the first product on our own roof. We've already had initial sales in this project. We're currently negotiating a number of sales with potential customers overseas while in Israel the interest is coming from potential distributors," Rokov told Globes.

Israeli water technology in the news

What follows are links to a few recently published articles related to Israeli water companies and technologies.

Interview with AqWise CEO Elad Frenkel

AqWise last month raised $3.6 million to support its growth plans, which center on its AGAR (Attached Growth Airlift Reactor) technology and ecological water sanitation process for municipal, industrial and aquaculture wastewater treatment. In this interview, CEO Elad Frenkel discusses the global wastewater market and Aqwise's prospects.

"Stream Control" takes the pressure off water pipes

Stream Control, a graduate of the Yozmot HaEmek technological incubator, has developed a device called the Aquaguard Smart Pressure Reduction Controller, designed to ensure proper flow of water through municipal pipes, thus preventing leaks and saving both water and money.

CEO Shlomo Avitbul discusses the company in this article on Israel21c. "We just finished a major project in Jerusalem's old city, where our installations reduced leakage by 35%," Avitbul says, adding that the product is set to be deployed in a number of other cities in Israel in the coming months. The company is also working on several deals in Europe - specifically Spain, Germany, and Italy.

New technique adds magnesium to desalinated water

Technion researcher Dr. Ori Lahav has developed a new technique that cheaply introduces healthful magnesium ions to desalinated water. In a few months, a semi-industrial plant will be set up adjacent to the small desalination plant at Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael to try out the process in the field. It is expected to supply 400 to 1,000 cubic meters of mineral-enriched desalinated water per day. The new process will be presented at the upcoming conference of the Israel Water Association.

Dr. Lahav is a scientific adviser to AquaPure Technologies.

Ormat signs deal with Great River Energy

Ormat Technologies announced today that one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries had executed a new 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Great River Energy (GRE), a Minnesota cooperative corporation of Elk River, Minnesota, for electricity to be produced by a new ORMAT Recovered Energy Generation (REG) facility.

The new facility will have a net capacity of 5.3 MW and will convert the recovered waste heat from the exhaust of an existing gas turbine into electricity. The turbine is located at a compressor station along the Northern Border natural gas pipeline and Ormat has already secured the rights to the waste heat for the new facility.

Ormat CEO Dita Bronicki said, "We are encouraged by the increased attention to energy efficiency and the confidence in our REG technology. Using clean solutions such as Ormat's REG units is a win-win strategy all around, providing both parties with one of the cleanest, fastest and most cost efficient ways to generate power while reducing carbon emissions. While each of our REG power plants along the Northern Border pipeline is only about 5 MW, when combining the opportunities along this one pipeline alone, we are generating power equivalent to the capacity of one of our 50 MW geothermal power plants."

Ormat expects the plant to be commissioned in 2009 or early 2010. With the addition of this new REG facility, Ormat will owns a total of nine units with an installed capacity of nearly 50 MW along the Northern Border pipeline which are currently under operation and under various stages of construction. This is the first Ormat plant in Minnesota, a state that has enacted a Renewable Portfolio Standards program. The Ormat REG facility consists of an ORMAT Energy Converter (OEC) based on Organic Rankine Cycle technology, which converts recovered heat to electric power without the need for any additional fuel or water. The OEC unit is environmentally benign, as it has no emissions of CO2 or NOX.

IQwind named a Top 100 Tech Startup by Red Herring

IQwind Ltd., which is developing an innovative gearbox to improve the efficiency of wind turbines, was named by Red Herring as a Top 100 Tech Startup in Europe for 2008. It is one of 14 Israeli companies to make the list.

IQwind was established in 2007 and received early-stage funding from Terra Venture Partners. The company was founded by Gideon Ziegelman, formerly an entrepreneur in residence at Precede Technologies, and Nimrod Eitan, an experienced mechanical engineer who now serves as the company's CTO.

Deutsche Bank: Project Better Place has "the potential to eliminate the gasoline engine"

Deutsche Bank has reportedly sent analysts to look at Project Better Place's business plan and concluded that it could be a "paradigm shift" that causes "massive disruption" to the auto industry.

"We see a potential for a paradigm shift in the way vehicles are owned and fueled," the analysts wrote in the report, which Wired News obtained from Project Better Place. "Looking at Better PLC's model, we conclude that a pure EV should not be more expensive than a gasoline/diesel vehicle."

According to the analysts, a typical contract would cost $550 a month and provide 18,000 miles a year. Project Better Place would run the charging infrastructure, allowing consumers to charge their batteries at home or at public charging stations.

Deutsche Bank found Project Better Place customers would pay 7 cents per mile for fuel, even after accounting for the cost of electricity and depreciation of the battery. That is very competitive when compared to the 24 cents per mile Europeans pay for gasoline and the 15 cents per mile Americans are paying (at $3 per gallon in a 20 mpg vehicle).

The report even goes so far as to say that Project Better Place's approach has "the potential to eliminate the gasoline engine altogether."

Deutsche Bank also predicts that "entities in 5-10 countries are in the pipeline to announce deals with Better PLC over the course of this year", in addition to deals already signed in Denmark and Israel. The bank also expects other automakers, beyond just Renault and Nissan, to work with the company.

"Frankly, we are not aware of any reason why they would not sign up for this, as the automakers do no need to commit capital for infrastructure of for batteries under Better PLC's business model," they wrote. "We think companies such as Better PLC have the potential to drive significant change in the global auto industry."

Related Posts:

Better Place secures $350 million series B round led by HSBC

Better Place unveils battery switch technology in Japan

Better Place and Hawaii to partner on electric car project

Better Place and Haifa to cooperate on electric car infrastructure

Better Place raises €103 million, names new Danish CEO

Michael Granoff, leading cleantech investor, interviewed by Ynet

Michael Granoff, a leading investor in Israel's cleantech sector, was recently interviewed for an article published on Ynet.

Granoff, the founder of Maniv Energy Capital, discusses his connections to Israel, his interest in cleantech, and his investments in Project Better Place and Israel Cleantech Ventures.

It is definitely worth reading. In addition to his role as an investor, Granoff is currently an "Oil Independence Specialist" for Project Better Place, where his "mission is to advance our ability to move countries off of oil by giving them a policy framework to speed the conversion from gas to electric drive. In advancing that mission, I also am responsible for generating public support for these policies."

The Ynet article is in Hebrew. For those looking for English information, I recommend checking out this blog post, in which Granoff outlines his views on energy security and cleantech and discusses the origins of Israel Cleantech Ventures and Project Better Place.

"Australia should learn from Israeli desalination"

A Melbourne University scientist says Australia could learn a lot about water efficiency from Israel.

Ray Ison traveled to Israel with a delegation of Australian farmers, conservationists and government officials, paid for by the Jewish National Fund.

While he says there are some environmental problems with water from the country's desalination plants, Professor Ison says much of Israel's agriculture depends on irrigating desert land, and most of that water is recycled.

"Much of the water comes from recycled urban use," he said.

"Some of it comes from several processes in agriculture, so you may have fish farming, followed by algal production, or bio-proteins and other things in water, it might go onto plants, so they maximise every drop of water in the integrated production systems."

Source: ABC Rural