General Electric (NYSE: GE) made investments in two startups.
GE Energy Financial Services has joined a $23 million funding round for Israeli firm SolarEdge. The company says its technology increases solar power systems’ output by up to 25%. The amount of GE’s contribution was not disclosed.
SolarEdge plans to use the funds to grow its business in residential and large-scale photovoltaic sites. SolarEdge’s other investors are Opus Capital and Walden International, the Israeli funds Genesis Partners and Vertex Venture Capital, and the Singaporean fund JP Capital Asia.
SolarEdge provides holistic photovoltaic power harvesting and monitoring technology to maximize the energy output and cost efficiency of solar PV units. The company works with industry partners such as BP Solar and Schott Solar, Isofoton, HaWi Energitechnik, Gehrlicher solar and many others to embed its technology into photovoltaic panels to increase their power output and provide monitoring and control.
“We will use this financing to further promote our solar power harvesting system, which can be embedded in practically all types of solar photovoltaic panels to maximize power generation while dramatically reducing costs,” said Guy Sella, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of SolarEdge. “By partnering with GE, we benefit from the company’s proven R&D capabilities, energy technology expertise and deep commercial market reach.”
Tendril Relationship
GE Energy Financial Services also made an equity investment in smart grid software developer Tendril.
Tendril said the investment will broaden the relationship between the two companies beyond their current collaboration on smart appliances.
Tendril announced in July that they would integrate the TREE Platform to work with GE’s dryers, refrigerators, washing machines and other appliances. GE appliances such as stoves, washers and dryers, dishwashers and refrigerators will communicate their power needs to the utilities in real-time. The utilities can then redistribute power as needed more efficiently.
The amount of GE’s investment was not disclosed. And no specific details were given about future areas of collaboration.
“Tendril is a great strategic complement to GE’s suite of ecomagination and smart grid investments and products, with multiple commercial and technology development opportunities for collaboration,” said Alex Urquhart, President and CEO of GE Energy Financial Services.
Appliances, lighting and water heating account for half of household electric use, making it critical that they be integrated across meter and broadband networks, moving beyond reliance on heating ventilation and air conditioning systems as the primary method of load control. With 37% of total US electric energy consumption associated with residences, and as utilities implement dynamic pricing, demand response appliances will enable consumers to save millions of dollars and cut load on the grid, GE said.
Tendril, a Boulder, Colorado-based company. It’s main software product is a suite of energy management applications called the Tendril Residential Energy Ecosystem (TREE).
In June, Tendril announced a $30 million Series C funding.
Earlier this month, GE announced a smart appliance pilot program with Masdar City.
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