Israeli company to build 20-hour-per-day solar power plant

[February 09, 2015]  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Brenmiller Energy said on Monday it will build a 300 million shekel ($77.27 million) solar power field using an energy storage technology that will generate electricity for about 20 hours a day.

The 10-megawatt field, to be built on about 110 acres (45 hectares) in the desert town of Dimona in southern Israel, will combine existing solar thermal technology with an underground system that stores heat for use at night.

Brenmiller Energy said it hopes to complete the field in early 2017, and will then sell electricity through the grid. During the four hours of the day that solar energy is insufficient, the company said it will use biomass to produce power.

The company already has a working proof-of-concept for the storage system.

A spokesman said Brenmiller Energy will fund the 10-megawatt project itself, in part to help promote the system to clients worldwide.

Brenmiller was a co-founder and chief executive of Solel Solar, a producer of concentrated solar power fields, which was bought by Siemens in 2009 for $418 million.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; editing by Jason Neely)

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