Gogenra Solar (Koshla Ventures funded)

[kristopher]

Cogenra Solar has developed, prototyped and validated the technical performance of an innovative concentrating photovoltaic/thermal co-generation technology and will conduct an 80-kW demonstration at the Sonoma Wine Company. For this project, the field performance of the system will be measured and used to refine economic and financing models and optimization over multiple tariff structures. This project will also look at modifying the co-generation system so that it can support tri-generation of electricity, heating and cooling, expanding the market to include commercial sites that require cooling and lower amounts of hot water. Additionally, Cogenra Solar will modify the system to provide energy storage for use during peak demand and coordination with Pacific Gas and Electric on grid integration.

The startup has received $10.5 million from Khosla Ventures.

***

About 190 gigawatts of solar water heating is installed globally, according to Gilad Almogy, the CEO of Cogenra. Compare that to the 20 gigawatts of solar photovoltaics installed on the ground (about 10 gigwatts of which was installed this year).

But you tend to hear a lot more about photovoltaics (PV) in the press and, admittedly, in this publication. PV is a bit sexier -- there's a semiconductor aspect and a magical conversion of sun to electricity. Hot water is kind of dull. More importantly, as Michael Kanellos points out, tax credits for PV systems are more pervasive. See Brett Prior's article for more details on solar thermal.

"But solar water heating is five times more efficient than PV," according to the CEO, and therefore has a much faster payback. It's also an accepted way of doing things in China, the Mideast, Germany, and in Austria, of all places, according to Almogy, the CEO. The math shows that solar heat is cheaper than solar electricity, so the ...

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/cogenra-unstealths-khosla-backed-pv-and-hot-water-startup/