By Janis Siegel , JTNews Correspondent
Kibbutz Magen, located in the northern Negev about a 90-minute drive from Tel-Aviv, supports itself by exporting crops such as wheat, peanuts, and potatoes. Its most successful and widely distributed product by far, however, are its plastic sunlight absorbers and heat-relay technology used for solar heating, distributed by its home-grown business, Magen eco-Energy. The technology, developed in 1977, is distributed worldwide today.
The seamless, plastic-over-molding design that results in a leak-proof solar collector is a unique technology that heated pools for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, the 2004 Sydney Summer Olympics, and the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
A company called Heliocol U.S.A. imports and sells the solar preheating technology globally for large-scale industrial applications in the government, military, universities, hotels, and recreation centers.
Israeli entrepreneur Victor Eyal, the CEO and founder of Heliocol, told JTNews that once he saw the product design at the kibbutz, there was no question in his mind it would make an impact in the market. So he partnered with Magen eco-Energy and now serves as the exclusive distributor in the U.S.
“I was already in the solar industry when Magen eco-Energy introduced me to their product,” Eyal said. “It was easily the best product on the market, and it was made in Israel. It was a no-brainer for me.”
Eyal was raised in Ra’anana, Israel, served as a pilot in the Israeli Air Force and moved to the U.S. in 1981 when he began importing the water collectors from Israel.
UMA Solar, a Florida-based company, applied the technology of the creator, kibbutznik Sio Schatsky, and began marketing the product in the U.S. in the ‘80s. The Heliocol solar pool-heating system soon took off both domestically and internationally. Today, UMA is a leader in the solar thermal market.
The company estimates that they import millions of square-feet of solar panels from Israel each year.
Since 1981, Bothell-based Sundance Energy Services has been selling the Heliocol solar pool heaters in the greater Seattle area for residential and commercial customers. Sundance representative Curtis Dahl believes they’re the best product on the market.
“We have tried many other solar products, and none have given our customers such a superior product,” said Dahl. “Its unique design causes no appreciable wind lift, and therefore few penetrations into the roof the solar panels are installed on.”
In a home-use pool, as described by Kibbutz Magen, the existing pool pump directs pool water through a series of valves to the solar collector. As it rises to the top of the collector through individual tubes, it is heated by the sun. The water is then returned to the pool, where the process repeats until the entire pool is warmed.
According to Magen eco-Energy, their systems provide their best results in an environment where there is direct sunlight but they guarantee energy savings even on cloudy days, due to a process called diffuse radiation, where even sunlight scattered by atmospheric particles still makes it down to the earth’s surface.
“The main requirement is good sun exposure,” said Eyal. “Other than that, there are no other obstacles. Our products are very flexible and can be mounted in any configuration and for any roof type. We have even mounted them vertically on fences.”
The “over-molding injection” in the patented production process, said Eyal, makes each tube and panel header a unified piece, creating a “leak-free and maintenance-free panel.”
The kibbutz’s “Plastic Magen factory,” as it’s called, ranks among the top creators and producers of renewable energy products in Israel, which has several companies listed in the top 100 global businesses that lead the in solar technology innovation.
For 2012, the Global Cleantech Innovation Index ranked Israel second in the world, just behind Denmark, out of 38 countries rated for specific cleantech innovation drivers like entrepreneurial culture, public research and development spending, access to private finance, infrastructure for renewables, early-stage private investment, environmental patents and other cleantech-specific factors.
Several cutting-edge Israeli solar technology companies identified by the all-things-Israel website Israel21c include Solel, BrightSource, Zenith Solar, Aora, Tigo Energy, Solel, Distributed Solar Power, and Enstorage. Many of them have sprung up from research conducted at some of the largest technology institutions in Israel like Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Tel Aviv University, and the Weizmann Institute.
The Magen eco-Energy technology is also certified by the Israeli Technical Institute.