Public Utilities Authority: Don’t let IEC build solar power station

Recommends that Solel Solar Systems own the solar power station.

19 October 04 16:16, David Hayoun

The Public Utilities Authority (Electricity) recommends not allowing Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) to build Israel's first solar power energy station, said Public Utilities Authority (Electricity) director general David Assous at a conference on the environment.

Assous said The Public Utilities Authority recommended to the Ministry of National Infrastructures that Solel Solar Systems, an Israeli company that developed the necessary technology, build and own the power station. A 100 Megawatt (MW) solar power station is planned for the Negev, for a cost of $150-200 million.

Assous said he opposed the Ministry of National Infrastructures' plan to publish a tender. He said he feared Israeli technology would not win the tender, but the technology of a foreign company. He said Israeli technology should be given preference, in order to preserve it in the long term. He proposed that the first solar power station be a pilot for future power stations.

Assous estimates that the solar power station can initially produce electricity at $0.12 per kWh, and at $0.08 per kWH later. The cost of producing electricity by solar energy is more expensive than producing it with conventional fuels, such as coal, natural gas, or crude oil.

On the other hand, a solar power station will make a return on investment by not polluting the environment. Assous says IEC has major tasks and should therefore not be responsible for building a solar power station, unless there is no alternative. He also believes that it would cost IEC more to build the power station than a private company.

Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on October 19, 2004