Israel is inaugurating its first commercial solar farm [1], a project that will use sun power to generate electricity and heat water using thermal energy.
For the first time, solar technology will provide the energy needs of an entire neighborhood at Kvutzat Yavne, a kibbutz in central Israel.
Manufacturers say the energy provided at the solar farm will save up to 40,000 liters of fossil fuels a year.
Roy Segev, the CEO of ZenithSolar, the Israeli company that created the project, said it would have the capacity to generate one kilowatt an hour at the cost of approximately eight cents per kilowatt over a period of 15 years under the Israeli sun, which is approximately 2,000 hours a year.
The technology was developed by ZenithSolar in cooperation with a team of researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE Research Institute.
“In a way, this makes it one of the first systems introduced into the market that may compete with traditional fossil-fuel energies, whether electricity or thermal energy,” Segev said.
Israel views the development of alternative energy sources, such as solar power, as an important legacy for future generations.
Politically, it can help reduce reliance on gas and oil, the lifeline of the Arab world.
With fluctuations in global oil prices, a lesser degree of reliance on oil will give Israel more stability and higher energy independence.
If applied in other countries, they will also purchase less oil from Middle Eastern states.
Israel hopes Western countries will then be less inclined to curry favor with Arab countries in international political arenas such as the United Nations, especially with decisions that pertain to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Israeli President Shimon Peres, a long-standing proponent of alternative energy projects, said such initiatives were the best means to fight terrorism.
“Today, terrorism, to a large extent, is funded by oil holders, either because they support terror, or because they’re afraid of it. Unfortunately when they have so much money, countries like Iran and Venezuela can keep on going,” he said at the inauguration ceremony.
The system applies relatively low-cost technology using mirrors. It yields high output, harnessing up to 70 percent of the sun’s energy potential by following the sun’s movement at all times.
The makers envision a future where the Israeli system will serve large communities, industries and single-house units.
Robert Whelan, chief technology officer at ZenithSolar, said an additional advantage of the project was its economical space usage, as it is situated on a relatively small tract of land.
The sun collectors are elevated from the ground and are at an angle, so that they do not take up a lot of space.
“We need about 2,000 of these units for a small village in the south of Israel,” Whelan said. “At the moment they burn diesel fuel, or if they buy it from the national grid it’s from gas-fired stations in Israel. It’s directly replacing that.”
Geared mainly for sun-drenched countries such as Israel, future individual units are projected to provide half the electricity needs of an average household for the initial cost of around $15,000.