Israel

Teralight has started building what will be Israel’s largest solar park. The Ta’anach PV project will have an installed capacity of 250 MW and include 550 MWh of storage. It is located in the Jezreel Valley, northern Israel, and will start operations in the first half of 2024.

The Electricity Authority of Israel has decided to regulate the connection of energy storage systems to low-voltage PV plants with capacities of up to 630 kW. It is introducing a supplementary tariff for PV and storage facilities that share single metered connection points to the grid, in order to reduce bottlenecks on the grid.

Israeli company Brenmiller is set to launch a 4 GW to 5 GW production line for its thermal energy storage systems, which use crushed rocks to retain heat that can be released as steam, hot water, or hot air.

Israel’s new rules for power purchase agreements (PPA) are expected to spur development, especially in the solar sector.

An international consortium led by Israel’s Al-Zahrawi Society has launched the Regace project to develop agrivoltaic solutions for greenhouses. It will investigate the performance of a new tracking system across locations and climates and use carbon dioxide enrichment to improve crop yield.

Policymakers in Israel are trying to create better conditions for large-scale solar projects. Land for ground-mounted facilities is still limited to 2,000 hectares, which equals 2 GW of installed capacity.

Israel’s market for behind-the-meter energy storage projects could grow significantly this year, due to new regulations and plans to commission new solar-plus-storage installations that were tendered a few years ago.

SolarEdge is set to fully acquire Hark Systems, a UK-based smart energy technology firm.

An Israeli startup is commercializing crop-responsive PV trackers for greenhouses. The system includes a tracking structure, a motor, a controller, and specially designed solar panels.

Israel’s scarce land resources and lack of interconnections to neighboring countries have driven the rise of rooftop solar. Now a number of recent policy changes, mainly due to electricity reforms, are set to reinforce the decentralization trend, reports Ilias Tsagas.