General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) has invested in SolarEdge Ltd. as part of a $23 million financing round in the Israeli company. Other investors are Israeli funds Genesis Partners and Vertex Venture Capital, Us funds Opus Capital and Walden International, and Singapore fund JP Capital Asia.
GE made the investment through GE Energy Financial Services, which is making its first investment in an Israeli company. p> SolarEdge is developing advanced power-harvesting solutions for photovoltaic arrays that will lower the average cost per watt produced. The solution includes chipsets and software that improve the power conversion capacity of photovoltaic panels, which makes them more economically viable. The investment comes less than year after SolarEdge raised $23 million from Israeli and US venture capital funds, and it has raised $35 million since it was founded in 2006.
Tigo Energy Ltd. is another Israeli start-up developing a similar product to improve the output of photovoltaic power arrays. Both SolarEdge and Tigo Energy have been able to raise substantial capital, thanks to the growing interest in photovoltaic solar panel arrays by both venture capitalists and strategic investors. Current arrays are inefficient, and require government incentives to be economically viable.
SolarEdge says that its PowerBox system boosts the efficiency of photovoltaic solar panel arrays by 15-20%.
SolarEdge chairman and CEO Guy Sella said, “We will use this financing to further promote our solar power harvesting system, which can be embedded in practically all types of solar photovoltaic panels to maximize power generation while dramatically reducing costs. By partnering with GE, we benefit from the company’s proven R&D capabilities, energy technology expertise and deep commercial market reach..
SolarEdge has signed several product development deals with solar panel makers such as BP Solar Ltd., Germany's Schott Solar AG, HaWi Energitechnik AG, and Gehrlicher Solar AG, and Spain's Isofoton SA.
GE Energy Financial Services president and CEO Alex Urquhart said, “Our investment in SolarEdge reflects our confidence in the company’s ability to thrive in the growing global solar industry. SolarEdge is a smart company, with smart technology, that fits well with GE’ ecomagination program to help customers meet their environmental challenges. We view this investment as the beginning of a broader collaboration between GE and SolarEdge that could include joint product development and distribution."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 15, 2009
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