General Electric Co.'s (GE) energy financing unit announced venture capital investments Wednesday in solar-panel technology firm SolarEdge and smart-meter firm Tendril.

GE Energy Financial Services said it was one of six venture capital investors that contributed a combined $23 million for SolarEdge to develop its residential and large-scale solar-panel technology business. The Israeli company manufactures equipment that it embeds in solar panels to improve their overall performance.

GE wouldn't say how much it invested in SolarEdge or Tendril, of Boulder, Colo.

In July, GE's Consumer & Industrial unit announced a partnership with Tendril, in which the manufacturer agreed to integrate Tendril's residential energy-management system with GE washing machines, dryers, refrigerators and other appliances. The technology allows appliances to communicate their electricity needs to utilities in real time, giving utilities power-demand information they can use to micromanage their distribution grids.

-By Cassandra Sweet, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6468; cassandra.sweet@dowjones.com