The BIRD Foundation announced today that it will provide $4 million grants for five joint Israeli-US renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. BIRD is the Binational Industrial Research and Development, which has so far invested in about 900 scientific and technological projects, some of which have succeeded and yielded cumulative revenue of NIS 10 billion.
The chosen projects are: an automatic heliostat cleaning device aimed at boosting power production and reducing operating costs; development of an ethanol production process from agricultural waste at low prices; development of an analytics system which will predict and identify commercial roofs suitable for solar systems; development of lower-cost catalysts for energy storage devices; and, developing an electrostatic speaker with significant energy savings.
The Israeli companies and academic institutions which have cooperated with US entities are BrightSource Industries, CelDezyner, Solview Systems, Waves Audio and the Technion.
The BIRD program has invested $26 million in 32 energy projects in the past eight years, including the projects approved this year. Projects are always cooperative ventures between one US and one Israeli company, or between a company and an academic institution, and they receive an additional $1 million conditional grant, to be repaid only if the project succeeds.
Renewable energy cooperation is realized as part of US congress and Israeli cabinet resolutions. The awarded projects had been reviewed by experts in the energy ministries of both states, as well as by the Ministry of Economy Israel Innovation Authority.
“Celebrating its eighth anniversary, BIRD Energy has demonstrated how the U.S. and Israel can effectively cooperate to develop innovative clean energy technologies. We are pleased that both the USa and Israel are committed to continuing this program on a long-term basis," said Executive Director of the BIRD Foundation, Dr. Eitan Yudilevich.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 13, 2016
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