Israel heading towards ending fossil fuel dependence

Filed under Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy in the News, Energy Conservation, Renewable Energy no comments

After Israel’s highly successful achievements in hightech and computer-related innovations, Israeli innovators are setting there sights on the world’s next big goal — energy independence, a world free of dependence on fossil fuels. Israeli innovators are working hard to become a world leader in alternative energy and the Israel government is throwing its support behind energy-related cutting-edge technologies. The number of private entrepreneurs entering the cleantech sector is growing. Over 300 startups are devoted to renewable energy-related technologies.
There is a definite growth in the Israel government’s determination to end dependency on fossil fuels.Israel is currently dependent almost entirely for its energy on imported coal and natural gas and has set a goal to have 10 percent of its electricity generated by alternative means by 2020.  The Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative’s technology center in the Arava region, which was chosen to by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, and the Ormat Technologies geothermal plants, which also receive a generous government grant, as well as the high priority given to large wind farms on the Golan, are a few of the examples of serious government action in this direction.

Leviathan Natural Gas Field

Nevertheless, the exploration venture between Houston-based Noble Energy and Israel’s Delek Energy Systems Ltd., Leviathan off-shore underwater field contained some 18 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This follows their 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas find at the Tamar field less than two years ago. Energy experts report that the natural gas discoveries from Leviathan and Tamar is enough to supply Israel’s domestic market for decades, which ends their dependence on foreign energy sources. This is hailed as a great achievement ending fears of a return of what Israel experienced in the 1070s when Israel was faced with the economic boycott of Arab countries and forced to rely on expensive and unpredictable oil purchases on the international spot market.

Yitzhak Tshuva, owner of Delek, declared “a day of celebration for all of us. The state of Israel is an energy independent country.”

Israelis do not intend to kick back their heals with this gas discovery and are plowing ahead on alternative energy plans. New legislation encourages solar installations. Recently, the Israel government cabinet approved a new national master plan to greatly encourage development and deployment of solar-powered facilities to generate electricity. Under this master plan, photovoltaic technology is now permitted on the roofs of buildings, including the roofs of parking garages, and on land next to residential areas in agricultural areas. The plan includes spending $600 million over the next decade to reach the goal of energy independence, with much of the money poured into encouraging green construction and development of new technologies. This is a big step in answering the complaint that legislation in Israel lagged significantly behind Israeli technological innovations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented this master plan as a security necessity.

“I view this as a national goal of the highest importance because the addiction to oil has led to the Western world being dependent on the oil-producing countries and harms the standing and security of the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

Work on Israel’s first large-scale solar field was begun last month in the Arava, southern Israel by Arava Power, which is partly owned by Siemens AG of Germany. This is considered a major success for Israel government policies encouraging investors in the country’s renewable energy sector.  Israel’s Bank Hapoalim had pledged to provide $22 million in financing for the $28 million project. Even though the amount is small, it represents the first significant vote of confidence by a major Israeli financial institution in Israel’s domestically produced solar energy. The Bank gave the go-ahead when the Israeli Electric Corp. committed to purchasing $70 million worth of energy from Arava Power over the next 20 years. It was the first time the state-owned utility has made an agreement with a private company.

“We now feel quite comfortable that the risk is not high,” said Tazhi Cohen, Bank Hapoalim’s corporate division head.
“This tells investors that Israel is now officially open for business for solar energy companies,” said Noam Ilan, head of the Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative, who is advocating renewable energy and energy independence for the Eilat region of southern Israel.

Dr David Faiman

Israeli efforts are not restricted to solar energy. Companies such as Virent Energy Systems, Madison, and HCL CleanTech, based in Herzelia, Israel are to receive a $900,000 grant from BIRD Energy, a program for renewable energy projects jointly developed by companies in the U.S. and Israel. HCL has proprietary technology that converts biomass into refined sugars, and a demonstration test project that utilized this technology at the Southern Research Institute, in Durham, N.C. Sugars produced in Durham are to be sent to Madison, where Virent intends to use its proprietary technology to turn these sugars into biofuel.

Numerous solar energy and other environmentally-conscious projects are located in the Negev, whose sunny climate makes it ideal for photovoltaic projects. Many of them are affiliated with Ben-Gurion University. One of these is the Israeli startup ZenithSolar who recently erected a solar farm in the Yavne area utilizing an innovative system that harvests more than 70% of incoming solar energy (as compared to industry norms of 10 to 40%). ZenithSolar is the brainchild of Ben-Gurion University Professor David Faiman, whose research at Sde Boker is the precursor of this project.

Israel boasts over 300 startups in cleantech/renewable energy technologies and are located throughout the country.