TIGI Solar, an Israeli provider of renewable heat generation and storage solutions and services, and Solid Solar Energy Systems from Austria, a global player in the renewable heat domain, have partnered on a project to build and operate a large-scale system for generating and storing heat for a large industrial plant in California. The companies announced TIGI Solid Heat Supply LLC has signed a $5 million agreement with Key Equipment Finance (KEF), a division of KeyBank, who purchased this project.
The deal was structured as a sale leaseback transaction and TIGI SOLID will operate the solar plant. This strategic alliance enables TIGI SOLID to provide heat-as-a-service, with no up-front investment from the plant, minimizing the use of natural gas, leading to increased efficiency and reduction in cost and emissions.
The system consists of a 4,000 square meter solar thermal collector array, advanced thermal storage, control and cloud services which significantly reduces Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions from the plant. TIGI's solar thermal collectors use a unique transparent insulation on the sun-facing side, allowing them to let in the solar irradiation while simultaneously minimizing heat energy losses. Results have proven a dramatic increase in performance as TIGI generates more energy per area, reaching temperatures needed by industry, and providing advantages in winter and colder climates.
The project is supported by the California Solar Initiative program (CSI), with an incentive to the transition to green energy and reduction of harmful greenhouse gases. Additional support comes from a federal tax incentive via the new Inflation Reduction Act.
Heat represents approximately 50 percent of the world's end-use energy and is generated almost completely by burning of fossil fuels. It is responsible for 55 percent of global energy-related emissions, much larger than global electricity emissions. According to the European Commission, renewables could supply almost 80 percent of heating and cooling by 2050. The main options for decarbonizing heat are renewable solar thermal heat and efficient electrification of heat with heat pumps. With its patented technology, TIGI is offering complete solutions to large heat users, industrial and commercial, including solar thermal collectors, industrial heat pumps, thermal storage, and control with cloud services.
Zvika Klier, CEO at TIGI Solar comments, "The world is fighting one of its worst-ever energy crises. The Russia-Ukraine conflict and surging gas prices have sparked a heightened focus on heat production, prompting key players to decide on abandoning natural gas in favor of renewable energy sources. We are confident that our solutions, offered as heat-as-a-service, marks the way forward for the transition of heat energy, and meets the needs of our customers by beating the high costs of fossil fuels and minimizing CO2 emissions. We are pleased to partner with Solid and KEF to provide heat-as-a-service for this large industrial factory in the US, which in turn can be duplicated across their different sites globally."
"KEF is pleased to be financing and working with TIGI and SOLID," said Jamie Feltes, Account Manager at KEF. "The fully optional system allows KEF to continue to provide an innovative solution to produce renewable heat. We expect renewables to expand dramatically in the thermal sector and align with today's notable growth globally in renewable power sector investments. This collaboration provides KEF with significant opportunity in the new and exciting domain of heat-as-a-service solutions, where we foresee continued, widespread growth."
Christian Holter, Chief Business Development Officer at Solid, added, "Industry is starting to move towards sustainable energy sources and recognizing that heat is representing a major obstacle. We are pleased to have partnered with TIGI and KEF for this project. This is the time for large renewable heat systems and the partnership that we have created can be perfectly aligned to deliver on additional projects."