Solel Solar and Glaston Partner On $9M Solar Reflector Manufacturing Facility

BET SHEMESH, ISRAEL--(Marketwire - September 10, 2008) - Solel Solar Systems announced today the opening of a $9 million factory in Finland in partnership with Glaston, a world leader in glass processing technologies, for the production of parabolic solar reflectors used in Solel's solar field projects. At the core of the facility is unique equipment conceptualized by Solel and designed and built by Glaston according to Solel's specific technical requirements and expertise. The factory will give Solel better control over capacity, quality and price of its patented solar energy technology. Operations will begin this month.

"We are very excited about this partnership, uniting the solar know-how and leadership of Solel with the automation processing expertise of Glaston," said Avi Brenmiller, CEO and President of Solel Solar Systems. "By producing our next generation of parabolic solar reflectors, this new factory will help us advance our SunField LP solar fields, in Spain and around the world, and provide our customers with guaranteed performance."

"Demand for solar energy through concentrating solar power solutions is growing rapidly, giving new opportunities for our technology. Our partnership with Solel is an important step to focus on this market," said Mika Seitovirta, CEO and President of Glaston. "We have tailored our solutions to meet Solel's technical requirements, and the result is both cost-effective manufacturing and highest-quality reflectors."

The facility is located in Akaa, about 200 kilometers north of Helsinki. It has the capacity to produce 240,000 parabolic solar reflectors a year, enough to power a 50 MW power plant.

This development solidifies Solel's position as the leading solar thermal energy company. Solel has already announced a number of contracts to supply solar thermal technology to Spanish developers and has recently completed the re-supply of most of the solar receivers for the solar power plants under commercial operation in California's Mojave Desert. Solel's American division, Solel USA, has a signed agreement with Pacific Gas and Electric Company to deliver 553 MW of solar power from the Mojave Desert by 2012.