Israeli Government Tender for Solar Energy Generation in Vast Photovoltaic Fields Connected to the National Electric Grid

The Israel Electricity Authority recently published a public tender for solar energy generation in vast photovoltaic fields connected to the national electric grid, with contenders bidding on the lowest price for the sale of solar energy to the national grid. Dozens of entities are expected to participate from all parts of Israel, all of whom own dozens of acres of land.

This is the third tender the IEA has published in relation to photovoltaic fields; the first two were of a smaller scale. The winners of the first two tenders acquired the opportunity to generate about 340 megawatts, at an electricity tariff of 19.8 and 19.9 agorot per kilowatt hour – more than two times lower than the Israel Electric Corporation’s rate for households. According to the IEC’s assessments, the winning tariff in the current tender will be even cheaper.

This new tender constitutes another step in implementing the plan to meet the government’s renewable energy production targets: increasing the inclusive solar energy quota by 1,600 megawatts to 10% of the total electricity production by year-end 2020.

According to the IEA’s press releases, 2018 has been an all-time record year in the construction of solar roofs and solar farms, with about 4,600 solar roofs currently in various stages of construction and operation, as well as more than 40 photovoltaic fields.

We emphasize that, alongside the business opportunity offered by the IEA, companies that decide to participate in the tender will face quite a few obstacles, mainly locating appropriate plots of land, finding success in rezoning the land, and obtaining approval pursuant to the national master plan. Nevertheless, we note that, according to the IEA, it appears there are enough project entities that have already received all requisite approvals and are now awaiting publication of the tender.