The Israeli
technological capabilities are known throughout the world as one of the most
innovative and advanced. Thanks to a thriving Hi-tech community and a strong
academia, Israel is considered a world leader in innovation and technological
breakthroughs.
One sector
that exemplifies those characteristics is the renewable energy sector. Israel
was one of the first countries to adopt solar technologies back in the 70's and
these days is pioneering the use of electric cars as well as many others fields.
The Israeli
technological companies develop various solutions in all sub fields of the
sector: wind, solar-thermal, PV, smart grid, energy efficiency and biofules. To
date, there are 200 renewable energy companies, about 30% of which are
strat-ups.
As the
world's energy demand is constantly growing and the desire of most nations
to improve their utilization of existing energy sources, find alternative energy
sources and promote new technology, Israel is turning to countries around the
world to propose collaboration on the transfer of information of existing
technologies, the development of new technologies and the preparation of
national and possibly international standardization, at a later date, in this
field
Technologies
existing in the Israeli energy market:
·
Solar Thermal- This
technology can be divided into two main categories:
o
Concentrated solar
power (CSP) - systems that use lenses or mirrors to concentrate a large
area of sunlight, or solar thermal energy, onto a small area. Electrical
power is produced when the concentrated light is converted to heat which drives
aheat engine (usually a steam turbine) connected to an electrical power
generator.
o
Solar tower- The solar
power tower (also known as 'Central Tower' power plants or 'Heliostat'
power plants or power towers) is a type of solar furnace using a tower to
receive the focused sunlight. It uses an array of flat, movable mirrors (called
heliostats) to focus the sun's rays upon a collector tower (the target).
·
Wind/Turbine –
the production of electricity from from wind energy is being done when the
kinetic energy of the air is converted to mechanical energy. The circular
movement of the rotor of the turbine is being converted into an electrical
energy using a generator. A single turbine can produce up to 4MW.
·
Photovoltaic - Photovoltaics (PV)
is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar
radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors
that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic power generation
employs solar panels comprising a number of cells containing
a photovoltaic material.
·
Energy Corps
·
Biomass & BioGas – a renewable
energy source, which is a biological material from living, or
recently living organisms, such as wood, waste, (hydrogen) gas, and alcohol
fuels. Biomass is commonly plant matter grown to
generate electricity or produce heat. There are 3 main technologies
to produce biomass & biogas energy: waste burning, fermentation, and
gasification.
·
Energy Efficiency –
reduction of energy consumption by storing energy, managing energy usage,
producing energy efficient products, preventing energy losses on the grid, etc.
Israel has
long played a major role in the Cleantech field, evolving from a nation of limited
natural resources to a significant player in global sustainability. Making use
of its highly educated workforce and vast experience in the hi-tech industry,
the country has developed an industry, over 400 companies strong, dedicated
exclusively to sustainable water, energy and environmental technologies.
The
Global Energy Challenge
The use of
energy has always been key to the development of human society, enabling
mankind to control and adapt to its environment for centuries.
Throughout
history, civilizations have risen and prospered based on their access to
energy, and the world, as a whole, has become increasingly dependent on this
scarce resource for the essential needs of agriculture, transportation,
technology and communications.
Today,
however, humanity is faced with a rapidly growing and looming energy challenge.
The resource that has proven to be a catalyst for historic global change has
also brought with it a range of complications. The rising use of fossil fuels,
steady climate change, the dependence on foreign oil, and the risk of reaching
peak oil points are only a few amongst the mass of potential issues this energy
challenge will present in the coming years.
These
challenges already impact health, agriculture, the economy and international
relations and conflicts.
Humanity
will need to utilize all of its creativity and technological innovation to
answer these rising energy needs. In turn, this challenge also presents a huge
market and business opportunity for those companies that can provide real,
relevant and outstanding sustainable energy solutions.
Sustainable/
Renewable energy industry fast facts
Ø
Renewable forms of energy
have contributed 14% of the growth in global power generation over the past
three years.
Ø
World primary energy
consumption - oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy - fell by 1.1% in
2009, indicating a rise in sustainable energy use.
Ø
Solar energy demand has
grown at about 30% per annum over the past 15 years (hydrocarbon energy demand
typically grows between 0-2% per annum).
Ø
The projected global clean
energy investment in 2017 will be $254.5 billion.
Ø
Only 1.7% of the world’s
total energy supply is provided by sustainable sources such as solar, wind,
geothermal, etc.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that the future of
human prosperity hinges on finding a way of supplying the world’s growing
energy needs in a way that does not irreparably harm the environment. Until
recently, it looked as if we had plenty of time to meet that challenge. No
longer.”
A history of turning desert into
oasis
Since its
foundation in 1948, Israel has placed great emphasis on conserving energy
wherever possible, developing innovative, alternative and sustainable solutions
to combat the nation’s lack of natural resources. Ranging from its decades-long
use of solar thermal energy, to its development of
The Israeli
sustainable energy industry is today considered a global pioneer thanks to
breakthrough technological innovations in the fields of solar and geothermal,
as well as bio mass, wind and wave energy.
Ø
Israel serves as the base
to over 100 start-ups in the sustainable energy sector.
Ø
Solar water heaters are
used in over 90% of Israeli homes.
Ø
Israel houses one of the
world’s largest solar energy dishes at the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center.
Ø
The Israeli Public Utility
Authority and National Infrastructures Ministry have established feed-in tariffs
for the development of solar and wind power technology, encouraging major
investment.
Ø
and innovation into these
fields.
Ø
As of October 2010, a
consortium of leading Israeli companies, investors and academic institutions began
to develop and operate a brand new technology center for sustainable energy in
the south of the country.
Ø
Israel is currently embarking
on programs that will enable it to integrate alternative energy systems and
implement energy efficiency technologies to meet its climate change challenges.
A culture of technology &
determination
Energy is
not Israel’s only scarce resource. Since its inception, the country has faced a
variety of difficulties emanating from its limited natural assets and numerous
political and geographical
Areas of
expertise of Israeli companies in the sustainable energy arena include:
Ø
Solar Thermal
Ø
Wind/Turbine
Ø
Photovoltaic Systems
Ø
Energy Crops
Ø
Biomass
Ø
Energy Efficiency
Israeli energy expertise
Photovoltaic
Systems
With no
fossil fuel resources of its own and a desire to limit foreign oil imports,
Israel has long worked to harness one of its most abundant resources, the sun,
in order to produce electric power. In turn, various Israeli commercial
entities have developed innovative uses of photovoltaic solar energy technology.
While the technology is still improving, commercial use within the country has
already been established, with installation of photovoltaic cells on the
rooftops of private homes relatively common.
Additional
examples of innovative Israeli products, technologies and efforts in this
developing field include:
·
Unique Reflector Dish
Design
In conjunction with the Ben-Gurion
National Solar Energy Center, an Israeli firm has been developing a new system
that would make use of a 10 m² reflector dish, along with mirrors and lenses,
to magnify and focus the rays of the sun. This new development in photovoltaic
technology could produce 1,000 times the energy that standard flat panels
produce, dropping the cost of solar energy to that of fossil fuels and natural
gas.
·
The Weizmann Institute
SolarPower Tower
The tower, developed by the illustrious
academic institution, contains a field of 64 large, multi-faceted mirrors
(heliostats) which can track the movement of the sun independently and reflect
its light onto selected target areas. It also contains a unique optical
reflector through which one megawatt of concentrated sunlight can be beamed
down onto a ground target, enabling groundbreaking research and expansion of
the photovoltaic technology industry.
·
Solar-on-Water Power
Generation
An Israeli company has developed a
viable alternative to land-based solar technology through the creation of a
floating concentrating photovoltaic (F-CPV) system. The system features a
modular design that supports power output ranging from several kilowatts to
dozens of megawatts, and can dramatically lower the cost of energy production
to a level far below national feed-in tariffs.
·
Photovoltaic Glass Units
This unique technology, pioneered by an
Israeli firm, essentially transforms conventional notions of building integrated
photovoltaics by providing effective energy generation and efficiency in modern
and adaptable glass designs.
·
Solar Power Harvesting
System
An Israeli firm has developed a unique
and cutting edge distributed solar power harvesting system. The technology,
comprised of a power optimizer integrated into each module, a highly reliable DC-AC
PV inverter, and a web-based monitoring application, effectively removes known
system constraints across the photovoltaic energy space and enables
cost-efficient production of clean, grid-ready energy.
Solar
Thermal Technology
Solar
thermal technology, the utilization of the sun’s energy to actively heat water,
capitalizes on the vast power of the sun to provide a new sustainable energy
resource. Israel has considerable history and expertise in the field, making
use of it for decades following Dr. Zvi Tabor’s 1953 prototype of the Israeli
solar water heater. Since that time, numerous Israeli innovations have
increased solar thermal energy efficiency and made it readily available to the
industrial and commercial sectors almost year round, regardless of climate,
after only a few hours of sunlight.
Examples of
Israeli governmental, academic and commercial involvement in this field
include:
·
Forced Circulation
Systems & Thermosiphon Solar Heating Technology
An international, Israeli-based company
has developed a flexible set of systems that use electrical pumps, valves, and
controllers to circulate water or other heat-transfer fluids. The technology can
supply heated water to several large tanks, making it suitable for hotels,
swimming pools and other commercial applications. The firm has also developed a
streamlined system that uses natural water circulation to provide hot water for
domestic locations after only a few hours of sunlight.
·
Cutting Edge Solar
Collectors and Heaters
These Israeli-designed solar collectors
and water heaters make use of novel and innovative materials such as copper and
resilient epoxy coating, guaranteeing clean water, long lasting resistance to
corrosion and unmatched levels of efficiency.
·
The Solar-Hybrid Power
Generation Unit
This technology, a product of 20 years
of R&D work and cooperation between an Israeli firm and the Weizmann Institute
of Science, presents a new optical and mechanical dish concept that delivers heat
to a special receiver and generates power through the use of solar base units
(100 kWe each); these units can be strung together to create a larger power
plant. When the available sunlight is not sufficient, the system can also
operate on alternative fuel sources, guaranteeing uninterrupted power supply
around the clock.
·
Modular Solar Power
Solutions
An Israeli company has developed a large-scale
solar power system comprised of modular, small-scale base units which can be
strung together to form a utility-scale off-grid power plant. The technology
includes a solar tower with a field of tracking heliostats that generate 100 kW
of electricity and 170 kW of heat each 24 hours a day. Furthermore, it enables
each base unit to be located independently, providing great flexibility in
finding suitable installation sites, improved reliability and the benefits of
scalability.
Energy
Crops
Energy crops
are purpose grown agricultural products, such as sugar beet, straw, or sugar
cane, that are used in biomass fuel production. Through a combination of computational
genomics, molecular biology and advanced breeding methods, Israel has become a
leader in this field, continuously searching for plant species that can aid or
serve in mass biofuel production.
Israeli
developments in this field include:
·
Oilseed Crop Bio-Diesel
The Agricultural Research Organization
(ARO) has been researching techniques for enhancing the production of bio-diesel
from castor beans, which are drought resistant and have high prospects for oil
content utilization.
·
Bio-Diesel Enzyme
Catalysts
These particular enzymes, discovered
and developed by an Israeli firm, can act as catalysts for reactions between ethanol
and methanol, resulting in cheaper and more cost-effective bio diesel production.
·
Algae Fuel Sources
An Israeli firm has developed a unique
technology for producing bio-diesel and bio-ethanol from algae. Utilizing flue
gas from coal burning power stations for algae cultivation, the process allows
CO2 emissions to be reused and filtered to aquaculture pools to nurture algae
growth. Instead of being released, the recycled CO2 allows the algae to produce
concentrations of more than a million times its natural concentration in ocean
water, maximizing its energy potential.
·
Novel Gene Discovery
Platform
This technological platform provides
computational gene and promoter discovery capabilities, as well as model and
target plant transformation capabilities, to enable rapid discovery and
validation of genes, promoters and molecular markers correlated with energy
crop production.
·
Jatropha Oil Cultivation
An Israeli firm has produced vegetable
oil from the vigorous, drought-resistant Jatropha plant as raw material for the
synthesis of bio-diesel. The plant, which is inedible by animals or humans,
produces oils that can grow on barren, eroded lands, under harsh climatic
conditions, making it an ideal source for bio-diesel production.
Bio-Mass
Energy
Biomass is a
renewable alternative to fossil fuel that is derived from readily available
organic materials such as wood, waste and alcohol fuels. Converted to other
usable forms of energy like methane gas, or transportation fuels like ethanol
and bio-diesel, these otherwise largely unusable materials can do anything from
power homes and industrial facilities to provide fuel for vehicles. The Israeli
government and various commercial organizations have taken great steps to
expand this burgeoning field, promoting research as well as developing
facilities and environmental solutions which make use of the unique resource.
Breakthrough
efforts by the Israeli government and commercial sector in the field of
bio-mass include:
·
Solid Waste Biomass
Research
An Israeli company has been exploring
the option of using solid waste as a source of energy through biomass
solutions. The firm has already designed special reactors for the production of
bio-gases from such material, and has invested considerable resources into achieving
efficient conversion of organic waste into other forms of usable energy.
·
Biomass Steam Production
Facility
In 2006, an international Israeli-based
company opened the nation’s first biomass steam facility.
The facility generates steam for
industrial use by burning wood chips from tree trimmings, cutting operation
costs by 25% and replacing a system of steam boilers that operated on carbon monoxide-emitting
fossil fuels.
·
Cell Wall Modulation
Platform
This Israeli developed technology,
which has evolved from cellulose binding domains (CBDs), uses these and other
proteins to accelerate plant growth, improve fiber properties and enhance the digestibility
of fibers to release more sugar for ethanol production.
Energy Efficiency
Due both to
the country’s reliance on imported fuels, as well as the desire to avoid
adverse environmental effects, energy efficiency has long been considered an
Israeli national priority. For decades, Israeli governmental, academic and
commercial organizations have cooperated to educate the population about energy
conservation and produce novel energy solutions in this field, resulting in a wide
variety of technologies and innovations geared to improve efficiency in both
the domestic and industrial sectors.
Examples of
Israeli governmental and commercial involvement in this field include:
·
Voltage Regulation and
Control Technology
This unique technology is geared to
maximize energy efficiency, allowing for energy savings and CO2 reduction in
both outdoor and indoor commercial lighting and industrial motor applications.
·
High Intensity Discharge
Electronic Ballasts
This technology, focused on
energy-efficient lighting, is not only environmentally friendly, but enables users
to cut lighting energy bills by 65%, dramatically lower maintenance costs by up
to 50%, and reduce the number of light fixtures needing installation and maintenance.
·
Cutting-Edge Smart Power
Grid Systems
Leveraging high-tech techniques from
the IT, communications and power electronic sectors, an
Israeli company has developed highly
integrated smart grid power systems. The technology, which makes use of pluggable
units and web-connected applications, will maximize cost cutting for utilities and
customers, and is geared to provide a truly scalable energy control solution.
·
Innovative Smart Grid
Data Distribution Technology
An Israel-based international
communications company has further imported smart power grid systems by using broadband
connectivity solutions to collect and transfer data from various meters. Such
smart grids optimize electrical production, rendering environmentally damaging
production at inefficient and “dirty” power plants redundant.
·
Lighting Energy
Controller Systems
This novel technology enables municipalities,
corporations and private users to maximize energy efficiency both in indoor and
outdoor lighting. By installing the systems next to electric distribution panels,
users can control the voltage supplied to lighting currents, operate lights more
efficiently, and reduce maintenance and costs.
Wind/Turbine Technology
With winds
blowing from the Mediterranean Sea to the vast plateaus of the Arava Desert,
Israel is the perfect setting for harnessing the natural power of the wind.
Although the country’s wind power has yet to reach full capacity, the national government
and various commercial entities have made significant gains in the field,
developing new technologies and solutions to capitalize on the emerging
resource. Moreover, the construction of new wind farms is expected to provide a
total of 25% of Israel’s sustainable energy by 2020.
Examples of
Israeli governmental and commercial involvement in this field include:
·
Voltage Regulation
Solutions Technology
In response to the country’s irregular
and largely unpredictable wind speeds, an Israel company has developed this
technology to monitor and respond, in real-time, to alterations in rotor shaft rotation
speed, assuring stable voltage output even when changes in wind speeds cause
the turbine generator’s RPMs to fluctuate.
·
Composite Material Wind
Turbines
These newly designed rotors can be
produced from light, flexible and inexpensive cloth sheets made out of
composite materials, enabling the reduction of kW installed costs to half and
the shortening of return of investment time to 3-4 years.
·
Breakthrough Wind
Turbine Gearbox Designs
These variable speed turbines, built
around a fully-mechanical, variable speed drivetrain, significantly improve
power generation efficiency and reliability and reduce the cost of energy by as
much as 20%.
·
Small Wind Turbines for
Grid and Off-Grid Locations
These Israeli-designed small wind
turbines, modeled according to aerodynamic principles, provide competitive and
cost effective power solutions for numerous off-grid (utility independent) and
grid-connected (in parallel to utility power lines) applications. Furthermore,
due to its exceptional performance and reliable operation, this technology produces
a faster return on investment than other turbine alternatives.
·
Cutting Edge Wind Tunnel
Research
For over two years, the engineering
staff of one of Israel’s largest aerospace firms has made use of its field
expertise and wind tunnel, used to test models of planes and the operation of
high-powered engines, to improve wind turbines currently on the market.
Israeli
sustainable energy market have the talent and capability to be strong
growth industries for the country, and to play an important part in
establishing the “Next Generation Oasis” for the world’s rising needs.