Sunday Energy powers Israeli kibbutzim

Solar energy integrator Sunday Energy of Israel announced it would invest NIS 500 million ($133 million USD) in photovoltaic solar arrays for kibbutzim, communal settlements in which earnings are pooled and divided equally.

The investment is expected to be made across the country during the next two years.

The company’s decision was reportedly influenced by a recent announcement by the National Infrastructures Ministry approving a feed-in tariff scheme for medium-sized solar-power stations ranging from 50 kilowatts to 5 megawatts.

Israel's Public Utilities Authority recently agreed to buy electricity at NIS 2.01 ($0.53 USD) per kilowatt hour from individuals and companies installing solar arrays on roofs—four times the going price of electricity for consumers.

The National Infrastructures Ministry is also considering removing the 50-MW solar energy production cap on the whole country.

Sunday Energy has agreed to act as the operational arm of the United Kibbutz Movement in the solar energy field.

In September, Sunday Energy was awarded the contract to erect solar arrays on roofs of municipals buildings in the city of Kiryat Ono in Israel’s Tel Aviv region. The arrays are to be installed on buildings such as the water department, schools and community centers.

The ministry plans to have 20 percent of Israel’s energy supplied by renewable sources by 2020. To meet that goal, the government issued a build, operate and transfer tender for the construction of two solar thermal plants on 1,000 acres in the Negev Desert. The Ashalim plants were expected to supply 250 MW of electricity, equivalent to 3 percent of the nation’s electricity consumption, when completed in 2011.

The ministry required that the bidders had previous experience in building and operating conventional power plants. The tender became a subject of controversy when the ministry’s criteria for bidders turned out to exclude local solar companies such as Solel Solar Systems, based in Beit Shemesh, Israel, and Luz II, based in Jerusalem, unless they partnered with foreign companies.

At least eight companies were reportedly being considered for the Ashalim project during the pre-sorting round in September. A winning bid is expected to be announced before the end of the year.