Israel’s Electricity Authority has announced the results of its 608.95 MW solar auction. Seven bidders have been awarded projects in the country’s second solar tender with the power supply tariff set at 0.1745 Israeli Shekel (~$0.054)/kWh for all projects. This was the lowest quoted tariff in the bid which is now applicable for all winning projects and was determined using the uniform price method.
The list of winners includes Israel-based Doral Renewable Energy Resources Group which secured 200 MW of capacity, SolGreen with 95.6 MW of solar capacity, and EDF Renewable Energy Israel, part of French energy company EDF, with 90 MW of solar capacity. Israel’s Enlight Renewable Energy secured 82 MW of solar projects and another Israel-based company Energix Renewable Energies, won 80 MW of solar capacity. Meshakim & Partners bagged 40 MW of solar capacity while the remaining 21.35 MW of solar capacity was allocated to Sikhun & Binui, an Israel-based infrastructure company. These projects are expected to come online by 2023.
Israel has been focusing on increasing its renewable energy capacity. In October 2020, Israel’s cabinet approved a plan submitted by energy minister Yuval Steinitz to deploy around 15 GW of additional solar capacity by 2030. Through this the government aims to increase the target for renewable power share in the total energy mix from 17% to 30%. Further, an intermediary renewable energy target of 20% has been set to be achieved by 2025.
The government aims to finance this extensive solar plan through a slight hike of 2 to 3% in power tariffs. This new $23 billion plan is an addition to the recent energy and water infrastructure plan that was announced in April 2020. The latter has been planned as a recovery strategy from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.