Israeli Min of Nat Infrastructure, Dr Uzi Landau, Arad Mayor, Tali Ploskov with MST Founder & CEO, Dov Raviv cut the ribbon to inaugurate the first fully operating Israeli CPV solar energy system
Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure, Dr. Uzi Landau, and Arad Mayor, Tali Ploskov, together with MST Founder & CEO, Dov Raviv cut the ribbon to inaugurate the first fully operating Israeli developed & manufactured CPV solar energy system on Thursday, October 14, 2010 in Arad. This CPV solar energy system developed by MST is the first to be based on Israeli innovations that is officially connected and supplying the Israeli national electricity grid, receiving feed-in tariff (FIT) under Israel’s latest national solar energy regulation.
The MST CPV solar tracker utilizes the concentrated sun rays at the rate of over 500 times their normal intensity on multi-junction solar cells of 37% solar efficiency. This configuration enables the creation of more energy in significantly less physical space.
MST Founder & CEO with MST Employees including some of "Israel's innovative Engineers"
Raviv, who is widely known as the “Father of Israel’s Arrow Missile System”, is joined with many who perceive MST’s CPV tracker’s connection to the grid as an important and moving landmark the path that Raviv began eight years ago, to finding a way for Israel to become energy independence using the only significant renewable energy resource available in Israel: the sun and by utilizing “Israel’s second most common natural resource – the inventive spirit of Israeli engineers.”
Raviv, talked about the “catch 22” situation in which Market failure does not allow new technology to mature, a situation that must have government intervention to succeed. His remarks were obviously aimed at the Israel government, pointing out that it’s current policies were illogical and counter-productive for such an important goal as energy independence.
“The first challenge is the challenge of the technology’s bankability. This term refers to the willingness of the banks and other financial bodies to finance the fields of solar energy based on new technologies. Financial bodies usually demand the presentation of a performance history spanning a number of years in order to reduce the uncertainty and risks involved in providing funding. Of course, new technology does not have a performance history required, creating the old story of the chicken and egg situation. In order to create a performance history, it is necessary to set up a solar field of at least 1MW. Such a field requires millions of dollars in funding, and in order to receive this funding a performance history is required.” Raviv continued, “What we have here is essentially a market failure mechanism. Market failure does not allow new technology to mature, and where there is a market failure the state needs to intervene and provide the bridge that allows us to cross this “Valley of Death,” as it is referred to in professional slang. Raviv pointed out, “Israel has many tools to help cure the “market failure syndrome” and it has done so in the past in other fields where there has been such market failure”. These tools do not cost the state budget anything, but are primarily expressed through the passing of the appropriate resolutions and the removal of regulatory and administrative barriers, and also the need to increase the synchronization between various state authorities so that they can all pull this wagon in the same direction.”
Minister Dr Uzi Landau presentation on his vision of solar energy in Israel at the Eilat-Eilot International Renewable Energy Conference in February of this year, in which he emphasized the deployment of Israeli technology as part of proposed quota of 50MW for solar fields and encouraged him to fulfill this policy vision and take up the gauntlet of promoting solar industry as a catalyst for growth that will generate employment and advance Israeli technology.
Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure, Dr. Uzi Landau at the MST Solar Tracker Inauguration
In his congratulatory remarks, Minister Landau praised MST’s accomplishments, as well as Israel’s innovative technologies in general in the area of renewable energy. Dr Landau pledged his ministry to promote it and encourage the Knesset to enact legislation to better support it.
Dr. Uzi Landau has been actively promoting clean energy projects in Israel. At the end of August, he dedicated the Wind Lotus connection to the national grid in a ceremony held in Sde Boker at the Midreshet Ben Gurion School for Environmental Studies where the Wind Lotus is deployed on the school’s rooftop. He has stated, specifically in regards to proposed additional wind turbine deployment in the North, that his ministry’s policy is “to prefer the benefits of adding clean and green energy to the electricity economy.”
With MST technology, a one megawatt deployment of its solar energy systems requires only 10 dunams of land, as opposed to two or three and a half times that amount of land required for other (silicon or thermal) PV technologies. MST’s CPV system produces 31% more energy per KW installed than standard silicon systems. This is 31% more energy from every megawatt installed and 60% more energy per dunam.
Dov Raviv speaking under MST's CPV Solar Tracker
In addition, MST’s CPV solar energy system can be set up on rocky ground that is not suitable for other technologies. It can also accommodate a dual-usage of the land in which the system is installed on a pillar with a minimal clearance of 2 meters from the ground. This allows free passage below MST’s system for people, cars, animals, or any other activity below its installation.
This combination of efficient energy production and efficient land use should be attractive to both policy makers and entrepreneurs.
Arad Mayor Tali Ploskov showed in here remarks that she already understands the significance of MST’s technology, “I am very proud to have MST’s CPV solar tracker in Arad. If every municipality throughout Israel knew about this technology, they would what a deployment in their area. This is an example of great Israeli technology and we should all want to be doing such great things.”
MST is planning to establish production lines in the Galilee and later in the Negev. Plans include employing 300 workers in its first production plant with the second on to be four times larger. Its first production line will supply systems of 75MW of installed power at competitive price to standard silicon PV systems per year.
MST’s CPV solar tracker integrates additional an inverter system and a sophisticated energy harvester from the Israeli Solar Edge company which has production plant in Israel’s Migdal Haemek.
Israeli companies who took part in MST’s CPV solar tracker’s development and deployment are PLH of Arad, which produced the pillar and the platform, the Lotem Company of Ashdod, which provided equipment for the modules and frames, the MER company, which set up the installation, and about 280 Israeli other subcontractors and suppliers.
The audience that came to participate in the inauguration included prominent investors and representatives from a number of foreign trade missions, each were impressed by the advancements in MST’s CPV solar technology and are looking it over for possible international cooperative joint ventures.
Dov Raviv sits with Min Dr Uzi Landau, Chief Scientist Dr Shlomo Wald & other participants
While MST was begun with the aim to develop for Israel’s benefit, it also intends to export its systems to large solar markets, including Italy where a large opportunity has opened for CPV systems. The Italian government has set a quota of 200MW exclusively for CPV at a tariff 25% higher than the feed-in-tariff for the standard silicon PV. MST is confident their CPV system will be well received in Italy as there are few CPV companies around the world with a mature product. Because of the advantages of land use efficiency, energy production capacity, as well as the fact that CPV technology vastly becoming know worldwide to be the next generation of the photo-voltaic system, countries will follow Italy’s suit in setting attractive quotas for CPV. Raviv hopes that Israel will also find a way to follow this trend.
MST is a member of iConsortium, which offers a onestop shop for renewable energy, green and security building needs.
For more information on MST and its CPV solar energy technology, see:
www.mst-ren.com
