Israeli startup grabs $5M for distributed solar thermal

Yavne, Israel-based AORA said it raised $5 million from solar investors EZKlein Partners and L&Q Solar, coming out of stealth mode to reveal its proprietary solar thermal technology.

AORA plans to use the funds to build its first commercial solar thermal gas-turbine power station at Kibbutz Samar in Israel's southern Arava region by the end of March. 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.

AORA is pursuing a model of decentralized power using a hybrid solar thermal technology that can produce electricity around the clock.

COO Yuval Susskind told the 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 or Ausra, which just shelved its plans (see Ausra shaves staff as it focuses on immediate revenue).

"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.

See the system here »

The key to the system's performance is that air can be heated to much higher temperatures than water using the same amount of sunlight, Klein said. Most solar thermal developers are planning to use heated water to generate electricity or steam (see Cleantech Group picks winners and losers in concentrated solar thermal).

Additionally, the plants can be smaller and cheaper than other solar thermal projects, with a build time of just a few weeks for a single 100-kW system.

"You don't have the problems for the grid of high-tension transmission because each unit is small," Klein said. "You can build them quickly—in a matter of weeks—with people who have never been trained to do this before. It could be a real driver of local job creation."

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.

The plants can operate alone to power a group of homes or businesses, or they can be co-located to provide greater power-generating capacity.

Susskind said it's too early to estimate the price tag of the company's solar systems but said AORA is cost competitive with other solar thermal technologies without the high upfront investment.

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.

AORA recently changed its name from EDIG Solar. It was founded last year based on more than 10 years of research by Israeli scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science. 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 nest place to be for this stage of our company. All the brightest minds are here."

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