Israel launches 300 MW solar-plus-storage tender

• The government wants a 300 MW solar plant linked to large scale storage in the Negev desert. Construction is planned for late 2021 and completion in 2023.

Israel’s Ministry of Energy has kicked off a tender for a 300 MW solar power plant in the Negev desert.

The ministry said the solar park would be the largest in the country upon completion. “For the first time in a national tender, a request to deploy energy storage will be included to meet the cost challenges,” stated Jerusalem.

Construction is planned to begin in late 2021 with completion in 2023. Bidders have until May 26 to table projects.

No indication was given of whether the tender – published on Wednesday – would include a price ceiling for the solar power generated but the government pointed out the cheapest solar price tariff received to date in Israel was also for a project in the Negev. That referred to the ILS0.0868/kWh ($0.0251248) bid lodged by the EDF Renewables unit of the French energy company in June. “This is the cheapest electricity generation in Israel, including pollutant fuel production,” the government said.

Solar facilities

Israel’s largest operational PV plant is the 120 MW Zeélim solar park near the village of the same name in the south of the nation. That project, built by civil engineer Solel Boneh Ltd, was started in November 2017.

At the end of 2018, Israel had an installed PV capacity of around 1,070 MW, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

The country supports PV development through tenders for large scale projects and an incentive scheme for rooftop PV which includes net metering and feed-in tariffs.