CPV - October 14th, 2010

Solar Panels

Solar Panels

The ESTH office attended a ceremony in Arad for the inauguration of Israel's first commercial renewable energy system to feed into the Israeli electric grid.  The Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) Solar Panel tracker system was developed by Israeli company MST, with parts coming from 13 countries including the United States' Spectrolab and 3M.  The CVP system is more than twice as efficient as conventional photovoltaic cells, turning 24 percent of the solar radiation into electric power, and can feed up to 50 Kwts into the electricity network.  Speeches were delivered by Minister of National Infrastructure, Uzi Landau, Arad mayor Tali Ploskov, and MST founder Mr. Dov Raviv all of whom emphasized the need for greater development, government funding, and expanded use of Solar Panels in the energy market.

Israel's Arava valley is becoming a testing site for a variety of solar and other alternative energy technologies.