TIGI completes $5M deal with US-based Key Equipment Finance bank to provide low cost, reduced emissions, and renewable heat energy for large industrial factory in California

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Jun 14, 2023, 07:00 ET

Heat-as-a-service minimizes cost and reduces emissions with no up-front investment

HOD HASHARON, Israel, June 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TIGI Solar., an Israeli provider of renewable heat generation and storage solutions and services (TASE:TIGI), 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, USA. Today, the companies announced that TIGI Solid Heat Supply LLC, has signed a $5M agreement with US-based Key Equipment Finance (KEF), a division of KeyBank, one of the largest bank-based financial services companies in the US, 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 gasses. Additional support comes from a federal tax incentive via the new Inflation Reduction Act.

Heat represents approximately 50% of the world's end-use energy and is generated almost completely by burning of fossil fuels. It is responsible for 55% of global energy-related emissions, much larger than global electricity emissions. According to the European Commission, renewables could supply almost 80% 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 favour 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."

For further information please contact:

Noa Rozental
[email protected]

About TIGI Solar

TIGI develops renewable heat generation and storage solutions and services. It supplies efficient systems that include its own patented and highly efficient solar thermal collectors, industrial heat pumps, smart storage and cloud services. For more information, please visit www.tigisolar.com

About Key Equipment Finance
Key Equipment Finance, a division of KeyBank, has been in the equipment, software and services finance business for over 50 years and is one of the largest bank-owned equipment finance providers in the U.S. The company provides tailored equipment lease and finance solutions for commercial clients and government entities, manufacturers, distributors, resellers and, through Specialty Finance Lending, a business unit of KeyBank, provides structured facilities across various sectors of the specialty finance market. Additionally, Key Equipment Finance's capital markets team utilizes its syndication capabilities to structure large, multi-bank transactions. With headquarters outside Denver, Colorado, Key Equipment Finance manages approximately $14.9 billion in assets and originates approximately $5.5 billion of equipment financing annually. For more information, visit keyequipmentfinance.com.

About SOLID
SOLID Solar Energy Systems is a pioneer right from the start in the Solar Thermal Industry. SOLID is headquartered in Graz Austria and has branch offices in San Diego, California and Singapore. Solid has more than 30 years of experience in solar thermal systems and more than 300 installed systems worldwide. SOLID serves customers in industry for process heat, in infrastructure for district heating and in commercial buildings for solar heating, cooling and hot water. For more information, visit www.solid.at

SOURCE TIGI Solar