CleanIsrael

How to join the CleanIsrael Network

Gabby — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 11:16:17 +0000

CleanIsrael is the largest network of cleantech professionals dedicated to Israel’s cleantech sector. Membership to the network is free and to date, the group has over 1,000 members. The network consists of entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, government and non-government professionals, and other key players from both Israel and abroad.

CleanIsrael activities include:

Regular, large networking events open to the greater CleanIsrael Network
Small, sub-sector focused events exclusively for C-level managers of Israel’s cleantech companies
An active website hosting original content, interviews, podcasts and startup profiles focused on Israeli cleantech

Membership is free and will allow you to receive frequent updates.

April Event – “Israeli innovation in Agtech”

Gabby — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:06:30 +0000

CleanIsrael is proud to announce it’s upcoming April Event - “Israeli innovation in Agtech“.

Please join us in the intimate opportunity to discuss Israeli innovation in Agtech with some of Israel’s Agtech industry leaders:

Matan Friedman, Venture Associate, Israel Cleantech Ventures

Ohad Zuckerman – Co-founder & CEO of UniVerve Biofuel. Former President & CEO at Zeraim Gedera Ltd.

Dr. Rafael Meissner – General Manager of Rootility. Former co-founder of Evogene (TASE:EVGN) and breeder and regional seed production manager at Hazera Genetics.

Guy Sela – Founder and CEO, Smart! Fertilizer Management

RSVP at:

http://www.meetup.com/cleanisrael/events/57877722/

This event will be sponsored by:

Autodesk’s cleantech partner program.

About Autodesk’s Clean Tech Partner Program

The unique Autodesk Clean Tech Partner Program supports the efforts, innovations, and environmental advancements of clean technology pioneers, by providing world-class software to design, visualize, and simulate their groundbreaking ideas through the creation of digital models and prototypes. The program offers participants software licenses valued* at up to €120,000 for just €50. With digital prototypes, clean tech innovators can explore and communicate ideas, test multiple concepts, and accelerate improvements, while supporting the reduction of potentially costly errors. Used by millions of engineers, architects, and design professionals worldwide, Autodesk® software helps empower Clean Tech Partners to create a better, more sustainable world.

Getting Funded and Working with Innovation with the Israeli Utilities: Dos and Don’ts from Leaders of Innovation at WaTech™ and KARAT – CleanIsrael Network Meetup

Gabby — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:34:30 +0000

Positive Signs of the Times: Israeli Utility Giants are Evolving and Commercializing to Make the World Greener and Cleaner

Getting Funded and Working with Innovation with the Israeli Utilities: Dos and Don’ts from Leaders of Innovation at WaTech™ and KARAT – CleanIsrael Network Meetup – August 2^nd,2011, 9 am. (RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/cleanisrael/events/25000871/)

by Shelli Zargary

In the context of the relatively small Israeli domestic market, utility corporations such as IEC – the Israel Electric Corporation – and Mekorot the Israel National Water Company are giants that benefit from a large bank of employees, a dependable customer base and relatively high economic stability. But these giants don’t slumber in their comfort zones; on the contrary, like the stereotypical Israeli Sabra, they are technologically advanced, ingenious pioneers who embrace wholeheartedly their mission to manage the responsible consumption, development and protection of Israel’s scarce natural resources. To do so, both Mekorot Israel National Water Co. and Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) have accumulated great and diverse assets in terms of knowledge, technologies, human resources, sites and equipment that today they are more aware and interested in leveraging to drive commercially, technologically and ecologically valuable projects that will serve the interests of the utility companies themselves, the water and energy sectors, the State of Israel and sustainability worldwide.

To achieve these both lofty and profit-driving goals, each company has set up a kind of internal incubator to identify, invest in, collaborate with and otherwise promote research and venture projects in their areas of expertise. Israeli cleantech entrepreneurs developing potential ventures in the water and energy sectors, especially ventures whose business models will require any kind of cooperation with the utilities companies, would be wise to consider approaching Mekorot’s WaTech™ and IEC’s KARAT. CleanIsrael Network is hosting a discussion with Amikam Levanon, currently Special Advisor to KARAT, CEO & President at Alimo Holdings and former General Manager of Negev-based incubators Iris Ventures and Rotem Ventures; and with Yossi Yaacoby, Director of WaTech™ and former Marketing and Projects Manager at EMS Mekorot Projects. The session will take a look at how the incubators operate and what entrepreneurs can and should do to maximize their chances of winning KARAT and WaTech™ investment and support.

Mekorot founded the WaTech™ Water Technologies Entrepreneurship Center in 2004 to leverage Mekorot’s values to promote water technology solutions in Israel and worldwide. Aptly titled “water technologies accelerator”, WaTech™ focuses on four primary areas. These include water technology-related business ventures and collaborations; applied research using Mekorot’s internal and third-party knowledge; intellectual property development and patenting, again as a service both for internal, joint and external IP; and water sector information management. In all these activities the company invests significant resources to promote sustainability and environmentally friendly water technologies that capitalize on non‑perishable natural resources.

WaTech™ manages projects in the categories of water quality, desalination, wastewater treatment and effluent reuse, sustainability (environmental quality and green energies), water security, engineering services, water supply command and control systems and models for optimized water system operation and management. Readers can download a detailed description of Mekorot’s “wish list” as to the technologies they would be most interested in supporting using the following link: http://www.mekorot.co.il/Heb/WaterTechnologies/Documents/WaTech_Reshima-eng.pdf To date WaTech™ has participated in some 20 joint projects from among the some 560 proposals they have evaluated. The supported ventures have benefited from access to a wide variety of Mekorot facilities including alpha and beta testing procedures and sites, professional experts, engineering support, business counseling and a wide network of international contacts. Some of the companies that have collaborated with WaTech™ include Atlantium, Aqwise, Bacsoft, Kinrot Ventures, Lesico Cleantech, Rotec, Solaris Synergy and many others.

The IEC, the national Israeli utility that generates, transmits and supplies electricity set up Karat (Hebrew acronym for “Accelerating Technological Ideas”) as an internal venture management unit within the company to support and invest in innovative initiatives in energy-related fields that promote “green” (clean) electric energy, lower energy costs, and higher energy efficiency, all in concert with the aim to reduce national and global dependency on carbon fuels. Early-stage ventures participating in the KARAT program receive access not only to funds (up to NIS 2m) and to fund-raising efforts, but also to the electrical grid that is so critical for testing and validating technologies, as well as to IEC’s scientists and engineers, strategic partners and other services that significantly facilitate the ventures’ business success.

Karat promotes energy-related initiatives, in particular in the areas of renewable energy (materials, devices, systems, control, etc.); environmental protection (reduction of greenhouse gases, electromagnetic fields and other emissions, recycling, waste treatment, etc.); use of electricity generation process by-products; improved energy efficiency, storage and smart-grid systems. Karat has clearly defined criteria and procedures for acceptance that seek out the most unique yet commercially viable technologies; it now plans to expand support for its portfolio companies by setting up a Global Partnership Program. Hundreds of ventures have been screened; the list of innovative companies approved and operating within KARAT includes promising startups such as InnoSave, Metrycom, Burning Solar Ltd., Even-Or Technologies, PVnanoCell and Powercom.

The thresholds are high and the application processes are not simple, but they can make the difference. Ventures that go the route of applying to Karat and WaTech™ will already benefit from the evaluation process itself. Needless to say, those ventures selected as participants will get a big basket of goodies, including funding, publicity, technical and business support and access to strategic local as well as global players that can be the deciding factor to bring rapid business success.

* shelli.zargary@gmail.com

CleanIsrael Network Event April 10 2011: “Carbon Trust – Lessons from commercializing cleantech technologies”

CleanIsrael — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 18:33:08 +0000

Jason Eis, Senior Strategy Manager, The Carbon Trust

UK Industry experts shared insights on trends & strategies that can help innovative Israeli cleantech ventures meet with success in the global market

In the dynamic and uncertain waters of the rapidly developing cleantech sector, startups will improve their chances of success by navigating carefully and making smart decisions on their commercial focus and business model from the outset. To help its members make the right decisions, CleanIsrael invited experts Jason Eis, heading up Innovation Strategy for the Carbon Trust, UK and Richard Youngman, MD Europe & Asia, the Cleantech Group to share their insights, experience and expertise on the topic. Both speakers indicated that while today’s trends show that currently it is more difficult to obtain funds for new ventures, nevertheless the megatrend bringing cleantech to the mainstream continues. The UK and global markets are expanding and more and more varied sources are seeking innovative cleantech technologies in which to invest.

The event kicked off with opening remarks by Ariella Grinberg, an analyst at ICV, and Gabby Czertok, CEO of HydroSpin and Managing Director of CleanIsrael, who co-hosted the event for the CleanIsrael Network. Next on the agenda was Richard Youngman, MD Europe & Asia for the Cleantech Group, the world’s premier intelligence service on global cleantech innovation, who previously spoke at CleanIsrael in 2008. He gave a brief analysis on how VC funding for cleantech companies has evolved since his previous appearance in 2008. From a peak of US$8 billion in 2008, the bulk of which was invested in large-scale, capital-intensive renewable energy and infrastructure technology companies, the volume of investment has decreased slightly but the number of transactions has grown. Until the market hears reports of success and positive returns on the big cleantech endeavors of the last few years, focus within the sector will remain on resource efficiency projects characterized by secure business models involving smaller investments, partnering and risk-sharing. See graph below.

In addition to cleantech-specific VCs, investments in cleantech are also being made by private, usually low-profile individual and family office investors, as well as by large corporations carrying out technology scouting to broaden their portfolios. Signs of stronger interest from public equity investors are evident in the performance of the Cleantech Index. Youngman concluded that the cleantech theme has gone from niche to mainstream, from renewables to energy efficiency and from California to China in a short space of time: new startups must take these changes into account when strategizing their market entry.

Source: The Cleantech Group

The primary presentation on commercializing cleantech technologies was delivered by Jason Eis, responsible for setting strategic direction for RD&D programs and planning commercialization support for new ventures at the Carbon Trust, a not-for-dividend company aiming to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy, through various programs including collaborative RD&D between technology developers and buyers, as well as integrated packages of grants, advice and networking for cleantech entrepreneurs. A former McKinsey project manager and currently a policy advisor to the British government, Eis shared his insights on the complex and dynamic cleantech playing field, where the rules of engagement are still not clear. He recommends that in order to survive in these market conditions, cleantech ventures must analyze public policies and invest their attention as much in understanding how such policies drive the market demand for their technologies, as they would traditionally focus on the technology itself. Eis gave several examples of cleantech market uncertainty in the form of technology alternatives that are dependent on differing infrastructure which the market will eventually have to choose between, such as electric versus fuel cell vehicles or CHP versus heat pumps. To date countries don’t yet know where they will invest and policies are often contradictory; effective cleantech companies’ business models recognize and negotiate these issues by supporting and influencing industry and government standards, and by partnering with corporate leaders that have technological staying power and can help them facilitate market access.

Eis described how the Carbon Trust offers a commercial deployment-oriented approach to R&D by bringing together “convened consortia” of large technology buyers in specific subsectors, such as offshore wind, to identify challenges and barriers and define R&D projects oriented toward commercial opportunities, hence reducing the risk to innovators.. These programs are open to innovators across the world, and they are currently defining new program areas for the next 3 years. This experience and knowledge guides the Carbon Trust in the advice it offers to startups while also positioning them to offer more services and funds to new ventures.

The Carbon Trust also offers incubator services to fast track new entrepreneurs across the cleantech “Valley of Death”. Services include grants, broad networking opportunities and advice using a proprietary diagnostic tool. They have assessed 2000 and supported 300 ventures to date and have capacity to scale up by at least 2-3x this volume. For each million pounds Carbon Trust invested, the companies were able to raise 13 million in private funds, and 67% of the ventures they supported achieved commercial investment. Eis stressed the increasing role of corporates in cleantech that startups can engage as part of an effective business strategy.

Eis cited other UK agencies offering assistance and financing such as the Technology Strategy Board and the Energy Technologies Institute. Moreover, public funds for cleantech in the UK will be available in the near future via the Green Deal and the Green Investment Bank, the latter is expected to offer £2-3 billion in public money to leverage up to £15 billion in private funds. Overall the message was that Israeli cleantech ventures would do well to include the UK in their investment and development programs and the Carbon Trust is very interested in investigating Israeli cleantech ventures.

Both speakers indicated that they find Israeli cleantech ventures to be of interest. When asked how he characterizes Israeli cleantech, Richard remarked that Israeli ventures tend to be highly technical, and because the local market is small, most ventures’ route to market involves a challenging cross over a geographical divide at a relatively early stage. To succeed in these tough circumstances, Richard recommends that the entrepreneurs be very realistic in evaluating the time it will take them to get to market and to set business plans accordingly.

Jason’s observations largely concurred; he commented that in many areas of the cleantech sector the role of buildup and achieving maturity in your local market before extending out globally is very significant. This factor creates a tough challenge for Israeli cleantech startups that face more difficulties breaking into foreign markets than those in other high-tech sectors; at the same time, he notes that Israeli ventures tend to be outward- oriented early on relative to ventures in other major markets.

The event drew a large audience with representatives from cleantech startups, venture capital funds, established firms and academia. The atmosphere was positive and the speakers answered many questions and met with several attendees one on one after the presentation. The general presentation was preceded by a closed Round Table session focused on innovation in efficient energy & water management in buildings that enabled CEOs and managers of interested startups, such as TriDiNetworks, Emefcy and Panoramic Power among others to present their ventures to the guest speakers in advance and get some valuable individual feedback and have more detailed discussion. Thanks go to the Carbon Trust and to Israeli Cleantech Ventures for co-sponsoring the event.

By Shelli Zargary, shelli.zargary@gmail.com

Shelli Zargary, a veteran marketing and marcom professional with some fifteen years of experience in the Israeli high-tech sector, has joined CleanIsrael to assist with marketing activities.

Eilat-Eilot renewable energy conference – giving away one free ticket to a lucky entrepreneur

Gabby — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 12:17:21 +0000

The CleanIsrael network in partnership with Eilat Eilot Renewable Energy conference gave away one free ticket to the Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy conference held on Feb. 22-24.

The lucky winner of the ticket was Moshe Fourier from PowerSpace.

** registration is closed **

Fill out this form in order to be eligible for the ticket (valued at 750$)

In addition, there is a 10% discount for all CleanIsrael members (registration code:clean972) at:

http://www.eilatenergy.org/registration.ehtml

About the Eilat-Eilot conference

The Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy International Conference and Exhibition will be taking place on February 20th-22nd and a great platform for presenting technological innovation, business opportunities, policies and implementation in the renewable energy field. The conference brings together thousands of participants from all over Israel and abroad.

During the conference, engaging meetings take place that lead to tangible results in the field. The previous conferences have established this event as the leading Renewable Energy conference in Israel, as well as a conference of global significance.

CleanIsrael Event – Demand response, California Energy and PG&E

Gabby — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 07:20:43 +0000

“PG&E, California Energy and Demand Response”

Boaz Ur, who is managing the Demand Response Program for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) which is one of the largest electric and gas utilities in the united states, talked about the California energy environment, PG&E and PG&E’s demand response program and how Israeli startup companies can work with them.

The event and was co-sponsored by ICV (Israel Cleantech Ventures and the Alfred Akirov Institute for Business & the Environment in TAU.

We will be holding a closed roundtable session with Boaz for startups in the energy field. if you would like to attend, please send a one-pager about your company to: gabby@cleanisrael.com

More Details :

Among other issues he spoke about the effects of Regulatory changes on companies working with California Utilities and about what PG&E is looking for in Demand response.

The event took place on January 3rd, 2011 at 9:00am at the Tel Aviv University and was co-sponsored by ICV (Israel Cleantech Ventures and the Alfred Akirov Institute for Business & the Environment in TAU.

About PG&E (California)

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is one of the largest electric and gas utilities in the united states, serving one of every 20 Americans. California’s energy markets are amongst the advanced in the world with a mandate to source 33% of electric energy from renewable resources by 2020. PG&E is also a leader in implementing energy efficiency standards and has been recognized internationally for its forward looking position on climate change.

About The speaker

Boaz Ur is currently managing the company’s Demand Response Programs, overseeing the development and management of PG&E’s Demand Response portfolio. Boaz’s responsibilities include Integrating Demand Response with Energy Efficiency solutions and Electric Vehicles and creating a Demand Response strategy/roadmap. Earlier at PG&E, he created a 7 year strategic plan for vehicle purchasing, including alternative fuel and electric vehicle strategy and successfully developed an environmental strategy in the area of vehicle emissions with the California Air Resource Board.

Tata Group from India – Water technologies companies showcase – Upcoming event

Gabby — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:59:55 +0000

Tata Group – Water companies showcase

On November 18th, a delegation of high ranking executives (CEO’s,CTO’s) from TATA Group

are visiting Israel in search for innovative technology and we have the honor to host them in our forum,

their main interest is in Israeli water technologies and we are planning to showcase 3 Israeli startups in the field of water technologies.

The event will take place on Nov. 18th at 17:30 at the Tel Aviv University – Room 003 in Dan David Building and is co-sponsored by ICV (Israel Cleantech Ventures and the Alfred Akirov Institute for Business & the Environment in TAU.

Pictures can be found at:

http://www.meetup.com/cleanisrael/photos/1157599/

About Tata group (India)
The Tata group comprises over 90 operating companies in seven business sectors:
communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy,
consumer products and chemicals. The group has operations in more than 80 countries across six continents,
and its companies export products and services to 85 countries.

The total revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $67.4 billion in 2009-10
, with 57 per cent of this coming from business outside India. Tata companies employ around 395,000 people worldwide.

Members of the TATA delegation include:

- Mr R Gopalakrishnan -The executive director of Tata Sons – Tata Sons is the promoter of all key Tata companies and holds the bulk of shareholding in these companies.
He is also the chairman of Tata AutoComp Systems, Rallis India and Advinus Therapeutics, vice chairman of Tata Chemicals, and a director of Tata Power and Tata Technologies.

- Mr Manish Sharma – The managing director of the Jamshedpur Utilities & Services Company – JUSCO. JUSCO is India’s first comprehensive urban infrastructure company in the private sector, invovled in the in the supply of water to both industrial and domestic customer and was India’s first Private Power Utilities Company to manage operation and distribution for the entire city since 1923
JUSCO is currently executing many landmark projects across the country and is part of the TATA Group.

Interview with Oded Distel, Director of Israel NewTech

Yuval — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:57:13 +0000

The CleanIsrael Podcast, is intended to showcase Israeli cleantech innovation. Every now and then Yuval Susskind (CEO, Diffusaire) will sit down with a notable player within the Israeli cleantech space to discuss his view on cleantech innovation in the holy land. For thoughts and comments, contact Yuval at greenp@cleanisrael.com.

Interview with Oded Distel

After several interviews with leading Israeli cleantech innovators, it was time to sit down and get the latest from someone setting public policy. Oded Distel runs the government’s initiative, called Israel NewTech, geared to promote Israeli cleantech companies. In his capacity, he is the focal point connecting the dots between government, academia, the business world and international trade relations, spearheading our latest innovations onto the world stage.

Interview with Nissim Asaf, CEO of Lesico Cleantech

Yuval — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:00:29 +0000

The CleanIsrael podcast is intended to showcase Israeli cleantech innovation. Every now and then Yuval Susskind (CEO, Diffusaire) will sit down with a notable player within the Israeli cleantech space to discuss his view on cleantech innovation in the holy land. For thoughts and comments, contact Yuval at greenp@cleanisrael.com.

Interview with Nissim Asaf

Having spent some time on the US west coast, Nissim returned to Israel to get invovled in the local entrepreneurial sector. A few years back, he founded Lesico Cleantech, an innovative company in the field of wastewater treatment and brine management. So we sat down one morning over breakfast to get the insider’s story why does one need the skills of a kayaker in order to manage a water start-up… Listen in.

Interview with Yosef Abramowitz, CEO of Arava Power

Avner — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:53:16 +0000

Yosef I. Abramowitz specializes in public policy, government relations, press, technology and corporate strategy.

He has a successful track record in government relations, having led a major effort that won $7 billion in benefits, as well as international campaigns for various issues. With degrees in Public Policy from Boston University and Journalism from Columbia University, Yosef most recently served as CEO of a multimedia company for a decade.

Winner of numerous awards, Yosef has an extensive global network, having served on the Executive Board of the World Jewish Congress and in other positions. He has been co-nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the former Soviet Union, which was underwritten by the European Union and U.S. AID.

Yosef is based in Boston, and has relocated to Kibbutz Ketura with his wife, Rabbi Susan Silverman, and their five children. His interest in solar power began in high school, where he received a regional award for a solar energy project.

On Arava Power…

Avner	*Hi Yossi, it’s a pleasure to meet you and thank you for hosting me at your office for this interview.* *Tell us a little about Arava Power?*
Yossi	Arava Power is the first green utility in the Middle East. We are technologically agnostic and that is a very important piece of our strategy. We will always use the best technology available that is appropriate for each specific location and that works with the specific regulatory environment.
Avner	*Arava Power has run a significant round of the Israeli bureaucratic obstacle course over the last couple of years – tell us a little about it:*
Yossi	Two and a half years ago we decided we are going to push the Arava Power project ahead – everyone said it can’t be done – you can’t get a license for solar you can’t get a building permit for a solar field you can’t do the zoning etc. Despite everything we just kept pushing along and at each stage every government office and every committee had to create the process to allow the Ketura 80 dunam 4.9MW field to advance forward. There are 25 political and regulatory battles to be fought for anybody who wants to build a commercial solar field in Israel. On January 4^th 2010 we won the 25^th battle (the Public Utility Authority passed the feed-in tariff of 1.49 for commercial solar fields up to 5MW), of-course this is not the end of the story, there are still more battles to be fought. For example, the National Building and Planning commission is in the process of coming up with regulation for rezoning agricultural land so that it can be used for solar fields, there’s currently no normative process in Israel to do that in a way which will be fast. In contrast to Europe where it takes 4 to 6 months for rezoning, in Israel it takes 3 years if you’re lucky. So we effectively created the political necessity for all 12-14 government offices to essentially do what they need to do to create the environment so that it would be a reasonable thing to plan, build and interconnect commercial solar fields in the state of Israel.
Avner	*Once this industry matures and more players join the market what elements will the competition be based upon?*
Yossi	Well, technology plays an invaluable and critical role but once you know what your technology is it becomes in fact a real-estate deal. Whoever has the best land, in the sunniest regions, closest to the right transmissions lines will create the most demand for new technologies to be created and will make the most money.

On solar technology PV and Solar-Thermal…
Avner	*Being technologically agnostic – exactly how do you choose your technology?*
Yossi	Every panel manufacturer makes all sorts of claims about how much energy their panels produce. The sun conditions in the Arava are quite unique therefore we didn’t rely upon anyone’s assumptions but rather wanted to test out these things for ourselves. For over two years now we’ve been running a small alpha test site together with the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, the Brian Medved Alpha Solar Center. We have off-course limited our testing only to technologies that are bankable.
Avner	*Can you explain the term “bankable technologies” in this context?*
Yossi	To do commercial solar fields is a very expensive infrastructure cleantech endeavor, you need to put down 20% and borrow 80%. To do this you need a bank that believes that for 20 years the technology is going to work well in a predictable way so that you can repay the loan and also the investors can make money. Because of the necessity for bankability you can’t really get too creative on which technologies you’re going to use at this stage. Banks in general are conservative and Israeli banks are notoriously so therefore we need to go on bankable and certified technologies for now.
Avner	As a solar utility you have obviously analyzed the various available solar technologies from the efficiency, financial and regulatory perspective, tell us more about the considerations regarding use of solar thermal technologies in contrast to PV solar: (14.00)
Yossi	As I said earlier solar-thermal needs larger scale in order to get the efficiencies you get from PV. With that, the issues that solar-thermal utilities are running into are not related to space but rather to the problem of the amount of water needed for the cooling systems. For this reason, in Israel there needs to be regulation that discourages water cooled systems and encourages air cooled. The problem is that air-cooled systems are less efficient so you need a higher feed-in tariff, for now, in order to get a good parity. Right now there is a public hearing proposal in Israel for solar thermal plants up to 60MW and above 60MW – the proposed tariff is 90 Agurot ($0.24) for over 60MW which is not worthwhile and 1.05NIS ($0.28) for under 60MW which is way too low. It’s too low in general if water cooled systems are available, water cooled systems being cheaper than air cooled. We all have till the end of January to give our feedback on this proposal and then eventually they’ll announce feed-in tariffs for large fields. Now what they want to do is to take the large tariff for solar thermal and apply it to PV which is also ludicrous. No country in the world has the same large-field tariff for both PV ad solar thermal. This is basically an indication to the fact that they don’t have a real commitment to large PV fields and frankly they don’t commit to large solar thermal other than the ones which use a ridiculous amount of water and that is just bad public policy and part of the learning process. So, as the people who push the envelope, we are going to everything we can to make sure that there is a higher tariff for large solar thermal fields that will encourage air cooling and profitability. As large and as strong as Solel is today that market could grow by leaps and bounds if we also had a domestic market. Why shouldn’t there be a GW of solar thermal plants if we can figure out the zoning and the environmental stuff. So the tariff will encourage that and then once there is a local demand you’ll find all sorts of innovations and efficiencies that will be created through Solel and other companies.
Avner	*Siemens owns 40% of Arava Power and 100% of Solel, the Israeli solar thermal company, are we going to see Solel solar thermal fields implemented in Israel?*
Yossi	As I said Arava is technologically agnostic and that means we’ll choose the right technology for the right location at the right time in the market. There is no final permit for any solar-thermal field in Israel. In solar-thermal you need larger scale in order to get the efficiencies, in other words you need 15MW to get to the price point that shows the solar thermal is worthwhile. In order to do that you need 1000 to 2000 dunam – this means getting all the permissions, environmental impacts permits, zoning etc. and there’s not yet a tariff that works with solar thermal in Israel (the 1.49NIS is only for PV up to 5MW, you can’t do 5MW solar thermal today that is bankable). That being said, there is currently a public hearing process in this regard. There’s a great experiment happening today at kibbutz Samar with AORA, a solar-thermal tower at 100KW each tower and we’re very interested to see how that develops because that’s the first modular solar thermal installation. Whether it’s ripe for us and the rest of the market has yet to be seen but the fact that it’s modular may solve some of the land space issues. It’s safe to say that Siemens is very strategic and they know that it’s in their interest to align all of their solar assets worldwide and especially in the Middle East and we look forward to being part of that alignment.

On the position of Israel’s Cleantech Industry…
Avner	*What needs to change in order for Israel to become a leader in the global cleantech market?*
Yossi	Israel has to go through two main phases in order to become a leader in the global cleantech industry. The first phase is to develop “domestic use and demand” and the second is the “innovation” phase, the killer app of renewables if you like. Everyone always wants to jump to the second phase and for that reason there are so many startups looking at a wide variety of very interesting ideas in the Israeli market. What is holding the industry back nevertheless (other than solar thermals which was developed 20-30 yrs ago), is that we have not yet gone through the first phase. Once Israel has domestic use and demand, innovation will accelerate because innovators will have an outlet to pilot, experiment and study under some of the harshest environments on the planet in the south of Israel for example.
Avner	*Are there markets in which we see this logic being applied?*
Yossi	Germany is the world leader in producing renewable energy. Almost 50% of solar power in the world is being produced in Germany which is astounding given that they only have 900KW hrs per sq/m of sunlight in contrast to the Arava where we have 2247KW hrs per sq/m. It’s important to understand that the public policy goal to lower the barriers to entry and invest so much money in a very rich feed-in tariff (what project developers get paid for each KWhr) was not really based so much on an environmental agenda as it was on creating 40,000 new jobs in Germany over the last decade in the space of renewables and particularly in solar. In effect, they created tremendous local demand, consequently thousands of people went into the industry and out of those thousands a portion went into innovation and then manufacturing. So now they are number one in the industry, needless to say, a decade is a pretty short time for such an accomplishment.
Avner	*So how exactly would this work in Israel?*
Yossi	So, as I said, phase one is to create a domestic market – first build hundreds of MW and then GW’s. When you do that the innovation and manufacturing sector wakes up. Once innovation and manufacturing awakens, we would like to see the Israeli government do two things: Firstly, create tax incentives for the developers to buy Israeli technology. This will encourage the local industry by pumping capital into it. If, for example, a developing company needs a little more capital it can come obtain it through an order for 50M worth of hardware – this is a lot better than a research grant from the government. These incentives will effectively enable Israeli companies to compete with the efficiency and cheapness of the Chinese who are very impressively going to dominate the market. Secondly (and this will bring the real revolution), give a loan guarantee to a bank, which will underwrite the financing of Israeli experimental technologies which are advanced but not yet bankable. This will enable developers to effectively showcase the more recent developments in Israeli solar energy without the banks having to take the full risk on the 80% financing. So part one of the revolution is create demand, have a lot of money coming through the market, build expertise. Part two is the regulatory dimension – tax breaks and other benefits for using Israeli technology and in addition, government guarantees to the banks to share the risk of not-yet-bankable Israeli technologies. I believe that there is going to be a game change in the solar market in the next 5 years and once local demand will be created here, it will most likely come from Israel.
Avner	*What does Israel have that makes you so confident that the game-change will come from here and what will change that will make it happen in the next 5 years?*
Yossi	Israel has a unique entrepreneurial culture and it has the confidence of the capital markets and VC’s. Furthermore, almost all universities now have environmental and renewable energy center in the framework of which people will be doing their masters and PHd’s on these issues and out of which many startups will be developing. But as I said, in order for all this to happen we really need a local test market in which to develop it.

On Israel’s role in the global energy shift…
Avner	*What role do you think Israel can play in the global paradigm shift in the energy sector?*
Yossi	I think that there are two things: The first is connected to the question in a post Copenhagen world of how you transform a modern economy from being carbon based to being renewable based and particularly solar based. This has not yet been done – you can’t name one economy that has gone from the one old model and completely transferred to clean energy (I’m not talking about nuclear power). For this reason, there is a lot of trepidation surrounding the issue and this is one of the reasons behind why things fell apart in Copenhagen. We are a small and innovative country and therefore we are able to do revolutionary things quickly – if and when we want to. We are currently at eleven GW; we’ll go up to twenty GW by 2020 which for us is actually still incredibly manageable. Israel can go from last place to first place in the industrial world of renewables in a potentially short period of time. During such a process will learn about so many issues that we don’t even know that we will have to counter along the way. This will essentially make us the proof positive that it is possible and we will know how it may be done. We will effectively be the global pilot for transforming into a carbon neutral economy. The second thing is a security perspective. We have the highest political incentive to end the world’s dependency on carbon because we are in a hostile neighborhood that is fueled by a carbon based global economy. We must figure out how to break that stranglehold.
Avner	*What do you think would be one of the main technological challenges in reaching a clean economy?*
Yossi	The issue will be energy storage – that’s going to be a key and I think that energy storage technology breakthroughs are likely to come from Israel if there is a local demand because then the necessity will be there. Once you get to 10-20% of the grid with renewables that are daytime dependant you must solve the storage question on a systemic national grid basis. If we create the market for that, the innovators in the market will come through.

On the interest of foreign investors…
Avner	*How did the international investor market respond to a project that has such a heavy bureaucratic component to it?*
Yossi	The international investor community never blinked in the three and a half years of our climb. We were first to market in a market that didn’t exist, which meant that almost every major international company that is interested in this space came to visit us, a good percentage of them courted us – we were in a privileged position. Once we scored the license that’s when almost a bidding war began. Even during the financial crisis we had no issues raising capital. I think this is an incredible statement about the belief of the international investor community in the potential of the Israeli market and I think it speaks very well of our management team.
Avner	*And then Siemens came along, what did they offer that made you go specifically with them?*
Yossi	We were very fortunate that Siemens came along when it did. There was an important differentiator between them and the other international investors. Not only did they respect the value that we had created as a company up until now by creating the market and having the first mover advantage but they were also willing to partner in the full sense of the word with the management team. They didn’t come in saying we’re buying you – we’re going to control you, hire and fire you and so on but rather they came in with the attitude of “you guys know what you are doing”. All the other companies either wanted to acquire or wanted to provide capital but at rates that just didn’t appreciate the value that we are creating, the value of creating a market.
Avner	*How did the regulatory breakthroughs affect international investors’ interest?*
Yossi	Now that there’s a feed-in tariff everybody wants to finance projects because once you have a license and a building permit there’s no risk – you’re getting at least a 15% if not higher return as an investor. Israel will be at least a 4GW market that’s $20B. I say to you today that there’s enough interest in the international community to do that if the regulatory environment was up to speed. If we had the zoning right for that much land and if the feed-in tariff on large fields was closer 1.35NIS then 20B will come through this economy between now and 2020, no doubt about it.
Avner	*Finally, when will be seeing the first commercial solar field in Israel?*
Yossi	The work will begin shortly; we hope to see the first commercial field working in 2010.
Avner	*Thanks you so much for you time…*
Yossi	It was a pleasure talking to you.