Israel's $1.1 Billion Ashalim 2 Concentrating Solar Project to Begin Construction

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Construction is scheduled to begin in 2014 on the largest concentrating solar power (CSP) plant project in Israel. The two successful bidders for the parabolic trough Ashalim 2 plant are Abengoa S.A. (Seville, Spain), a sustainable energy company, and Shikun & Binui (TA:SKBN) (Airport City, Israel), an infrastructure group. Negev Energy was formed by the two companies to execute this project.

The 28-year build-own-transfer (BOT) contract was awarded by the Israeli government and will include 4.5 hours of thermal energy storage, using Siemens technology. Siemens was part of the consortium before it announced its departure from the solar power sector. Abengoa took the place of Siemens (NYSE: SI) (Munich, Germany) as technology provider.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2014, following the signing of a 25-year power purchase agreement by Israel Electricity Corporation and financial closure. Power from the $1.1 billion plant will be sold at about $0.21 per kilowatt hour (kWh), which is low when compared with other CSSP plants around the world. Commercial operations are due to begin in the second half of 2017.

The same site at Ashalim will host another CSP plant using power tower technology developed by BrightSource Energy (BSE) (Oakland, California) in a BSE-Alstom (Paris, France) consortium. A third plant using photovoltaic (PV) technology will follow to complete the complex, which will supply 2% of Israel's power needs. The country has a 2020 target to supply 10% of its power from renewable sources.

For related Information see June 30, 2013, article - Siemens Shuts Down Solar Business.

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