MST becomes 1st Israeli technology firm to connect to grid
Arrow of light: Solar technology company announces will deploy blue and white technology in field.
By EHUD ZION WALDOKSsolar panels 311(photo credit: Courtesy)
Israeli solar company MST announced on Tuesday that it had connected its first system to the national power grid to produce 50KW of electricity, making it the first Israeli firm to deploy blue and white technology in the field.While 50KW of electricity is not much by national standards, it demonstrates that the company has moved out of the testing phase and into production.MST was founded in 2002 by Dov Raviv, commonly known as the father of the Arrow antiballistic missile. Its concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) system uses mirrors that move with the sun to concentrate its rays on solar panels, thus boosting their efficiency. The company said it had reached 24.5 percent overall efficiency during almost a year of testing in the field – about 10-12% more than standard solar PV panels.The idea behind CPV is to take up less land than PV and achieve higher efficiency for the panels. MST pointed out that because its system is on trackers that are raised above the ground, the land could be used for agricultural production at the same time.There are a few other Israeli companies working in the CPV field, such as Zenith Solar, at varying levels of product testing.Rehovot-based MST deployed its first system in the southern city of Arad, and plans to build a manufacturing facility in the North.“The system constitutes a breakthrough in the field and industry” Raviv said in a statement. “Our near-term goals and next steps include building a production line of MST systems in the North of Israel with a production capacity of 75MW per year.The production facility will also create 300 direct jobs.This production capacity will give us the ability to have competitive prices in the global solar market with our cutting-edge technology.”MST is a member of iConsortium, a group of Israel energy and security firms that offers one-stop shopping for green and safe building services.
