BIRD Energy, a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructure designed to promote U.S.-Israel cooperation in clean and renewable energy technologies, has announced it will invest $3.1 million in four clean energy cooperative projects.
The U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Program was authorized in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and was approved by the Israeli government in 2008. The program was launched in 2009 through the Binational Science Foundation (BSF), which administers cooperation in the academic area and the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD), which administers cooperation in the industrial area.
Each of the cooperative projects includes a U.S. and Israeli partner and addresses energy challenges and opportunities of interest to both countries. The selected projects will leverage private sector cost-share for a total project value of $8.5 million.
The four projects include the following:
- Rechovot, Israel-based Pentalum Technologies and Seattle-based 3Tier will develop and test a LIDAR-based system to facilitate wind speed and power output forecasting in wind farms;
- Caesarea, Israel-based Cima NanoTech and San Jose, Calif.-based Integrated Photovoltaics Inc. will test and demonstrate a process for producing low-cost crystalline silicon solar wafers and solar cells;
- Jerusalem-based Ener-T International Ltd. and Emeryville, Calif.-based Halotechnics Inc. will develop a concentrated solar thermal plant design using high-temperature molten salts as a heat-transfer fluid and for energy storage; and
- Tel Aviv, Israel-based Greenlet Technologies and Philadelphia-based Viridity Energy will jointly develop a Wi-Fi-based load-management system for residential and commercial buildings that can monitor and control individual appliances without the need for professional installation.
This is the third round of joint projects approved by BIRD Energy.
