This is a true story of strategic initiatives, collaboration, innovation and global dependency that will take you on a journey from one side of the world to the other in search of the 21st century's version of the "Holy Grail."
On one side of the world is Los Angeles and its surrounding population of approximately 10 million. Los Angeles is an arid, congested, urban center full of productive and creative people applying their talents to entertain us all while at the same time an equally active group of entrepreneurs are working to solve some of our most challenging world problems that include moving us away from being the world's largest petroleum consumer.
On the other side of the world is Tel Aviv, population of approximately 400,000, with another 7 million in the entire State of Israel. Tel Aviv also is an arid, congested, urban center full of productive and creative people enjoying their dreams, one being to be the next startup to partner with a U.S. company to change their and our world. There has always been a special connection between Los Angeles and Tel Aviv, maybe because of the approximately 250,000 Israeli's that live in Los Angeles.
BrightSource Energy, with operations in Israel and in California deployed their technological innovation to develop a system that uses thousands of small mirrors called heliostats to reflect sunlight onto a boiler atop a tower to produce high temperature steam. The steam is then piped to a conventional turbine which generates electricity. This fully integrated energy system is designed to offer the highest operating efficiencies and lowest capital costs. In 2009, Southern California Edison (SCE), one of the largest electric utilities, and BrightSource Energy reached a landmark agreement on a series of contracts for 1,300 megawatts of clean solar thermal power, enough to serve nearly 845,000 homes. This application of Israeli technology in Southern California will further position SCE as one of the nation's largest purchasers of solar energy.
Capstone Turbine Corporation, a Southern California-based company and world-leading clean technology manufacturer of micro-turbine energy systems received an order from HelioFocus in order to modify a Capstone Turbine micro-turbine to operate on solar energy. Headquartered in Ness Ziona, Israel, HelioFocus is engaged in developing a modular, high efficiency Concentrated Solar Power system that will convert sunlight to grid electricity using a parabolic solar concentrator to focus the sun's energy into a solar receiver that provides enough heat energy to drive Capstone's modified turbine and power electronics.
All four of these companies - which will be at the forefront of the The Israel Conference™ on June 3, 2010, in Los Angeles - are collaborating on a global scale to produce and deliver the cleanest, most renewable energy possible. Their dreams are becoming our reality as they partner in bringing solutions to the market that are consistent with the common global good.
Today it is all about being green, recycling and producing renewable energy. These four companies on both sides of the world are facts-on-the-ground examples of what can be done to make our dreams reality in a relatively short period of time.