Harnessing wind energy has never been a priority endeavor in Israel, compared to projects dealing with solar energy. In fact, the only large size wind energy project there has been the Mei Golan wind farm, composed of ten large wind turbines on a hill near the cease-fire border with Syria on the Golan Heights.

The Golan, a windy plateau that was captured from Syria by Israel in the June 1967 Six Day War, is one of the few places in Israel that has enough constant wind velocity to warrant the use of wind power over other forms of renewable energy. past Green Prophet article in which new Golan Heights solar energy projects appeared to be upstaging the Mei Golan wind farm which uses already outdated technology to run a the wind turbines on Tel Asiniya, which generate about 6 megawatts of electricity.

But now, according to an article published in Reuters, the idea of using wind energy is about to get a big boost in a deal involving an Israeli company Multimatrix, which is in the process of buying half of Mei Golan (a subsidiary of the Mei Eden water company), the company operating the wind turbines.

The deal, which is said to be costing between 20 and 25 million US Dollars, will involve the initial construction of seven new wind turbines to be built in 2011 at a cost of around $27 million. Mulitmatrix, together with the U.S.-based AES Corp,  hopes to build a total of 160 wind turbines that will generate about 450 megawatts of electricity – considerably than that presently generated by the outdated Mei Golan turbines.

Since the total cost of this project is estimated to coast in the neighborhood of $800 million, it gives an indication of the importance being given by Israeli Energy Minister Uzi Landau on using wind energy as a source of power for generating electricity.

This and other renewable energy projects go along with governmental plans to have at least 10 percent of the country’s total energy needs furnished by renewable energy by the year 2020. Solar energy is still an expensive way to produce electricity, according to Energy Ministry officials. This explains why the use of wind energy is now being given more emphasis; and future wind energy farms are being planned in the southern Negev region, as well as along Israel’s border with Jordan.

The future of the Golan Heights, which is being disputed between Israel and Syria, will be an important factor in constructing such a large wind energy project there. Energy Minister Landau notes that these projects will have to be considered as part of a final negotiated settlement with Syria.

Wind energy technology has progressed considerably since the first Mei Golan turbines were erected back in 1992.

Another Israeli company, Coriolis Wind, is developing a series of vertical turbines which they say can generate more power while taking up much less space than the conventional propeller shaped wind turbines that can be as large as a jumbo commercial airliner.

Whatever method is used, the future of wind energy in Israel has definitely been given a needed shot in the arm by such government endorsed projects as the Multrimatrix/AES one; making wind energy a very viable energy option in Israel and elsewhere as well.

::Reuters

More articles on wind power as a  renewable energy:

Coriolis Scales up for the Wind

Israel Plans Wind Powered Lighting for Coastal Highway

Israel’s First Wind Energy Developer Mei Eden Gets Windier on the Golan

Image by Green Prophet

Solar energy has traditionally been a land or “area-intensive” form of alternative energy. Solar energy generation required massive, land-hungry solar power farms in order to compete with conventional equivalents, or large areas of roof space to accommodate photovoltaic panels that were not known for their efficiency at converting sunlight.

This requirement for extensive areas of roof space left the inhabitants of high-rise apartment building out in the cold, so to speak.

A joint venture between Israeli start-up Tigo Energy Ltd and US-based Architectural Glass & Aluminum Company Inc. (AGA) will eventually offer apartment dwellers the opportunity to reduce their green footprint by making solar energy technology more widely available for this difficult environment.Although not spelled out in the press releases and other media coverage, it appears that the apartments’ windows and other external glass surfaces will become the buildings’ solar receptors.

As well as allowing residents to reduce their draw on the power grid, it may also give the most energy-thrifty the ability to feed their excess back into the grid.

According to Globes:

The project is important, because until now there have been no mass market solar energy solutions, but only for industrial, commercial, and public buildings, as well as for owners of large tracts of land or farming communities. People who live in apartment buildings have not been able to participate in the new energy world, which is based in large part on solar infrastructures. If the Tigo-AGA project succeeds, apartment residents will also be able to generate solar energy, with its inherent benefits (the sale of electricity to the national grid at higher than normal prices).

Like all good joint ventures, the one between Tigo and AGA allows the partners to bring their strengths to the relationship, with AGA supplying the glass and silicon coatings for the photovoltaic panels, while Tigo will supply the electronics that turn the glass into solar receptors. The possibilities of the venture have been recognised by others:

The venture obtained a grant from the US Department of Energy and Israel-United States Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD-F). Tigo’s flagship product, the Energy Maximizer System will be integrated into solar panels used by AGA, a leading US glazing contractor for glass and aluminum buildings.

In order to be the liberating technology it was intended to be, solar energy needs to be freed up from the demand for land-hungry solar power farms. Each building or structure should ideally generate sufficient power through renewable energy sources to cover all except peak needs, and feed any excess back into the grid. Joint ventures such as the one between Tigo and AGA may help to make this a real possibility.

Tigo Energy has headlined on the pages of Green Prophet several times:

Tigo Solar Energy Secures A $10 Million Investment
Solar Company Tigo Energy Announces Key Distribution Partner in US
Tigo Energy’s Solar Solution Monitors Power From The Sun

Company websites:

Tigo Energy
AGA Architectural Glass & Aluminum

Coverage of the JV originally appeared in Globes, but the full article is no longer available online.  The piece can instead be viewed on DailyMe.com.

Nasser Majali, the CEO of Amman-based EDAMA – an NGO working to promote energy, water and environment projects in Jordan – was not listed as one of the scheduled speakers at the MENASOL solar energy conference in Cairo this week. However, given just a few minutes of advance notice, he gave a smooth presentation about his organization’s mission.

Majali is a serial entrepreneur with no particular expertise in the fields of energy, water or  the environment. Instead, his green passion developed during nature outings as an amateur photographer: He became alarmed by the piles of litter and other environmental damage he witnessed.

After growing up in Amman, Majali earned a BA at the University of Michigan and an MBA at the American University in Beirut. A string of IT startups followed, including some he continued to manage until assuming his position at the newly formed EDAMA earlier this year.

Instead of environmental know-how, he brings business acumen and an ability to work the halls of power. “Together with the private sector, we will identify the specific needs and seek to work as an effective lobby vis-à-vis the government,” he explains.

A supportive government

Majali cites the renewable energy legislation approved in Jordan earlier this year as a positive step and sees the government as a willing partner. “EDAMA was established with the support of His Majesty King Abdullah, and the Minister of Energy is very enthusiastic about renewable energy,” he says.

A third sector, academia, is also essential, he says: “We are working to involve academia in these fields. It is vital to build an R&D capability.” While citing the need for greater environmental awareness among Jordanians, Majali is optimistic about the future. “There is a real lot of interest in developing renewable energy in Jordan,” he says.

See more on MENASOL and EDAMA:
Cautious Optimisim at MENASOL Solar Energy Conference in Cairo
Jordan Launches EDAMA Intiative on Energy Independence, Water Conservation

Israel’s cabinet has approved recommendations for preventing the further erosion of coastline cliffs.

The Israel National Roads Company  is preparing to publish tenders for the supply, installation and maintenance of wind turbines to generate electricity for highway lighting.

According to the Globes business daily, the CFO of Israel National Roads Co., Shay Yiftach, explained at a conference this week that small wind turbines could be installed on lighting poles on the coastal highway running along Israel’s Mediterranean coastline to exploit the sea winds.

The CEO of this government corporation, Alex Viznitzer, added: “We are initiating steps to integrate systems for producing renewable energy into the infrastructure of highways. Thousands of acres of available land at interchanges can be exploited for placing photovoltaic solar arrays. Many thousands of street lights can use wind turbines.”

The tenders are expected to be published after a survey is conducted to check the economic feasibility of potential sites, Globes reported.

Government seeks to shore up the shoreline

Meanwhile, the Israeli cabinet took initial action this week to prevent further erosion of shoreline cliffs along the Mediterranean, approving the principles of a policy paper prepared by the Environmental Policy Center at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies and the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The policy paper calls for an outlay of NIS 470 million to reinforce the cliffs over the next 20 years, the Haaretz daily reported. The cliffs have retreated a few dozen centimeters each year due to natural and human-induced erosion. The policy paper recommends physically reinforcing about 13 kilometers of the 45-kilometer stretch of cliffs, especially near Ashkelon and Herzliya.

Some of the alternatives for reinforcing the cliffs are already in place at the site of the Apollonia (Arsuf) Crusader fortress, about 15 kilometers north of Tel Aviv. However, environmentalists have complained that the work done at Apollonian ruined the beach at the foot of the cliffs.

The cabinet meeting this week included a discussion of the government’s responsibility for protecting endangered natural assets such as the shoreline cliffs. The attorney general argued that the state must take reasonable action to minimize such damage, but is not necessarily obliged to pay the costs.

Read more about wind power in Israel:

Can Israel’s Wind Power Sector Compete with Solar?

 Blower Fans in the Cow Shed Test Vertical Wind Turbines of Coriolis

:: Globes

:: Haaretz

Thinking about buying an electric car like ones being promoted by Shai Agasi’s Better Place? Following my test drive of one of their Renault Fluence ZE Concept cars it turns out that it may be longer than planned before this country will have the electric power grids needed to run large numbers of them, according to comments by people such as Eyal Hadas (who we’ve interviewed), managing director and head of renewable energy at Cukierman & Co. Investment House as told the Media Line recently. 

What Hadas, skeptical of the Better Place car concept, was especially referring to the use of renewable energy, such as solar and wind energy, despite optimistic goals for the use of renewable energy in Israel:

“Israel will never be able to meet its [renewable] energy goal because the power grid is not adapted to handle the demands of renewable energy, since renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy are dependent on changing conditions. The present Israel power grid is not suitable to adapt to these changes, whereas fuel sources such fuel oil and coal are more constant.”

According to the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructure, headed Uzi Landau (touting on UPI that Israel’s new weapon against oil will be green energy), the country’s three main energy sources are coal (69%), natural gas (23%) and oil (7%).

Regarding renewable energy, Mr. Landau’s ministry has set goals for the percentage of power that solar, wind, and even wave energy, being developed by companies like Shmuel Ovadia’s SDE Energy Ltd.   Landau’s ministry predicted that by the year 2020, 10% of Israel’s energy needs will be supplied by renewable energy. In a January article posted on Green Prophet, I asked if energy advances in  Israel are in parallel to those abroad.

In the short run, additional power plants, especially those designed to run on natural gas will have to be built to provide enough energy to power the increasing consumer demands of people using air conditioners and other energy consuming appliances like the mammoth duplex refrigerators that have been proven to be the major energy consumers in most homes these days in Israel.

But those who are involved in promoting renewable energy projects, including Israel’s Minister of Environmental Protection Gilad Erdan, are more optimistic in the country’s development of renewable energy:

“We are focusing on promoting goals for Israel. Right now we set a goal that was approved by a governmental decision to have 10 percent of renewable energy but we are punching forward to bring it to 25 percent renewable energy by the year 2030.”

That optimism had better be turning into reality soon, as Better Place is hoping for their electric car infrastructure to be servicing electric cars in the year 2012 – only two years from now. If not enough electricity is available to power these cars, then they will be no better than short run curiosity pieces that won’t be able to travel more than a few kilometers a day, due to power shortages and even major electricity black outs.

::The Media Line (links to site where article can be read without subscription)

Read more on Israeli energy issues:

Are Israel’s Energy Advances Parallel to those Abroad?

Israel, Egypt and Abu Dhabi all set Renewable Energy Goals

Tamar Natural Gas to Drill New Wells to Power Better Place Cars

Though lacking the resources that have enabled richer Arab states, and the UAE in particular, to play a leading role in promoting renewable energy, Syria is also looking to boost its involvement in this field. This week, the Higher Institute for Applied Sciences and Technology (HIAST) in Damascus is hosting an International Conference on International Energies (ICRE) and Exhibition.

According to ICRE’s website, the purpose of the conference “is to bring together international researchers and practitioners working at the cutting-edge of solar energy, as well as related areas such as renewable energy and clean energy.” The website goes on to succinctly state: “The renewable energy sector can give our host country a lot.”

The official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that “experts from research centers in Germany, Serbia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan presented papers stating that achieving integration among renewable energy sources can guarantee supplying energy to several countries, underlining the need for every side to exert all efforts to guarantee energy sources in the future since the world still has the ability and options to achieve this goal.”

The participants discussed issues including the production of energy via geothermal heat pumps, methods for optimal use of solar energy storage systems in buildings, and the generation of electricity from solar energy in desert regions.

The three-day conference concludes on Wednesday.

Image via SANA

More on environmental issues in Syria:
Syria’s President Appoints Woman As New Environment Minister
A Nature Peace Park Won’t Work Without Syrian-Israel Peace First‘

LEGO, makers of timeless bricks of wonder, continue their welcome advance into the classroom with the new Renewable Energy Set. The new set lets students experiment with using energy from their own bodies and the three main energy sources – solar, wind, and water – to generate, store, and use power. The set also contains building instructions for a variety of models such as a solar-powered car and a wind turbine.

The renewable energy set, comes with a new activity pack, which lets students explore renewable energy sources; investigate energy supply, transfer, accumulation, conversion, and consumption; and use measurements and data analysis to describe and explain outcomes through hands-on activities and real-life models.

The new set is part of Lego Education, a branch of Lego which aims to provide pre-schools to high-schools, with an educational package for exploring topics such as robotics, mechanics, electricity, math and even Aerospace.

If the last time you saw a piece of LEGO was in your childhood, I encourage you to check out some of the amazing things that can be done these days with the modern LEGO Mindstorms, it makes the LEGO Technics of my childhood look like naive child’s play by comparison. It is great to see the Legos of this generation, are just as relevant today, as they were for my generation.

And if there is a child in your life (your son or daughter, a niece, nephew, or spouse), pull him away from the TV and computer screen, and build something together.

Shimon Peres from Israel and Lee Myung-bak from South Korea at Davos. (Image via Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)

A high-ranking delegation from South Korea is currently visiting Israel to explore possibilities for collaboration between the two countries on renewable energy. The 37-member delegation represents 22 companies, as well as local authorities and R&D centers, according to a report published in the Globes newspaper.

During the extensive 10-day visit, the delegation will visit 13 Israel companies: Zenith Solar, Heliofocus, GreenSun Energy, BrightSource, Better Place, Seambiotic, IQWind, Arrow Ecology, ETV Motors, Ormat Industries, EnStorage, CellEra and Aqwise. The delegation will also meet with officials at Israel’s National Infrastructure Ministry, Industry Trade and Labor Ministry, and Foreign Ministry, and will visit Tel Aviv University and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Korean ambassador to Israel Ma Young-Sam told Globes: “The renewable energy field is seen as the future growth engine for Korea, and Israel is ranked fourth in the world in terms of companies operating in the sector. There is definitely business potential, and not just academic. The idea is to merge Israeli technology with Korean equipment and operational ability.”

Earlier this year, Israeli President Shimon Peres and South Korean president Lee Myung-bak discussed potential collaboration in the field of renewable energy during their meeting at the Davos World Economic Forum.

On Tuesday, members of the delegation test-drove electric-powered cars at Better Place’s visitors’ center and discussed a number of options for collaboration, including automobile manufacturing, production of the car’s batteries, and battery charging and replacement stations. South Korea is the world’s fifth-largest car manufacturing country.

::Globes (link closed to payment after 1 week)

More on Israel and Far East collaboration:
Israel’s Heliofocus Gets Sunny Investment from China
Knafo Klimor Architects from Israel Build Agro-Housing in China
Israel Establishes Consulate in Chinese Powerhouse Province For Clean Technology

A conflict may be brewing between an emerging renewable energy industry and environmentalists over land preservation in Israel. The heart of the controversy has to do with where to put the massive solar installations that are expected to be built in the arid Negev and Arava regions in the south of the country.

To the untrained eye, Israel’s southern deserts are a vast expanse of empty land, largely uninhabited and ostensibly a perfect setting for solar energy initiatives, something which the country’s environmental movement has been pushing for quite some time. Now, however, when the country seems on the brink of setting up an extensive system of solar power plants both large and small, green organizations are expressing concern that covering large swaths of land with solar energy infrastructure could disrupt desert ecosystems.

“We aren’t saying we don’t need renewable energy – quite the opposite,” clarified Yael Cohen-Paran of the Israel Energy Forum last week at the Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference. Speaking in a panel discussion on ”land as the main constraint to the growth of renewable energy in Israel,” Cohen-Paran calculated that meeting Israel’s renewable energy commitments with current photovoltaic technologies could result in hundreds of square kilometers of land being covered with solar panels and related infrastructure.

In a letter to the Prime Minister last week, the Israel Energy Forum criticized the government’s renewable energy policy for putting too much emphasis on photovoltaic technology, which it says is costlier, less productive and more land-intensive than other technologies currently available. The Forum suggested transferring resources away from encouraging PV, and into renewable energy R&D, high-output technologies such as solar thermal and especially energy efficiency.

Iris Hann of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel added that government regulation should protect open spaces by encouraging solar energy production on the country’s rooftops. “The more we allow open spaces to be exploited,” she said, “the less of an incentive there will be to develop roof space. Developing open space should be the option of last resort, and even then only on land adjacent to built-up areas.”

In the southern Arava, a number of kibbutzim are taking advantage of a new government policy that allows for the conversion of agricultural lands to renewable energy production of up to 5 megawatts. Ruti Frum of the Agriculture Ministry noted that “agricultural plots are a golden opportunity for renewable energy entrepreneurs, but we have to be careful we don’t sign all of them away.” She also noted that, as technologies improve over time, solar energy production will require less land.

Kobi Dinar, CEO of Sunday Energy, argued that a piece of land can be used for multiple purposes, estimating that 500 MW of solar power could be produced by overlaying solar energy installations on top of Israel’s water reservoirs.

Udi Gat, Chairman of the Hevel Eilot Regional Council in the southern Arava, admitted that there are disagreements about open spaces, with demands coming from farmers, environmentalists and energy companies (as well as the military, which he said controls 90% of the land in the Arava.) “We can certainly use agricultural lands to generate power, especially in the south of the country, where there is more sun and less water, but we have to aspire to leave as much untouched land as possible,” he said.

Gat also mentioned that the regional councils in the south are working on a strategic plan to locate open spaces that can be used for renewable energy generation without disrupting the desert ecosystem. One example of such an approach is the planned Timna Renewable Energy Park, which is slated to be built on degraded lands once used for copper mining.

The Egyptian New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) and Abu Dhabi’s green energy company, Masdar, signed a framework agreement on February 18^th for a 200 megawatt wind power plant, slated for Egypt’s eastern coast near Suez. 

The project is the first collaborative venture between Egypt and the UAE in the field of renewable energy, noted Aktham Aboul Ela, a senior official at Egypt’s Electricity and Energy Ministry. “The agreement will allow for the construction and start of implementation of the first 200 megawatt wind farm in the country,” Aboul Ela told Reuters.

Egypt already has wind farms at Zafarana and Hurghada on its Red Sea coastline, with an installed capacity of 430 megawatts of wind energy. The area is one of the windiest sites in the Middle East, with average wind speeds of over 9 meters per sec.

The country aims to generate 12% of its power from wind farms out of a total goal of 20% from renewable sources by 2020. It is seeking to attract $110 billion in investments in its energy sector by 2027, according to Reuters.

The agreement with Masdar comes in the context of enhancing UAE-Egyptian relations in all fields, especially in the field of new and renewable energy, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

Masdar is already involved in other wind projects, including the London Array offshore wind farm and a similar project in the Seychelles.

See more about Egypt and wind at:
Egyptian Wind Energy Association

Wind Power Works – Zafarana

::Reuters