Israel Cleantech, UPC Wind, and solar follow-ups

• Israel Cleantech Ventures announced they are raising a $60mm fund to target primarily early-stage Israel-based cleantech investments.  One of the principals of the firm, Jack Levy, was kind enough to write a few words on the Israeli cleantech scene on this site back in January.  And speaking of Israeli cleantech investing, BASF also appears to be looking at ramping up their venture activities in the region as well…

• UPC Wind, a wind farm developer, announced they received funding from the D.E. Shaw Group and Madison Dearborn.  The amount of the financing was not disclosed.
  

• Here’s an interesting article on solar concentrators from News.com.  And speaking of solar, following up on the earlier speculation about Applied Materials possibly moving into the solar business, here’s some big-dollar confirmation...