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Good Neighborhood: Will Electricity from the Jordanian Sun Help Israel? - Walla! Business

2020-10-02T17:08:41.682Z


Between Israel's peace agreements and normalization with the Gulf states, an initiative to purchase renewable energy from Jordan has fallen a bit between the chairs. Is this possibility really on the agenda and is it a sensible solution economically and environmentally?


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Good Neighborhood: Will Electricity from the Jordanian Sun Help Israel?

Between Israel's peace agreements and normalization with the Gulf states, an initiative to purchase renewable energy from Jordan has fallen a bit between the chairs.

Is this possibility really on the agenda and is it a sensible solution economically and environmentally?

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  • Jordan

  • solar energy

  • electrical power

Rachel Vox, Angle

Friday, 02 October 2020, 01:29

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Solar energy (Photo: ShutterStock)

In energy, as in many other areas, collaborations have a host of benefits.

An example of this is the recently announced agreement that Israel will be connected to the European electricity grid.

Such a connection is expected to allow Israel to sell electricity easily and transfer surplus electricity from the grid to other countries instead of being wasted, and could increase energy security in the country.



Another cooperation that is currently in the process of crystallization is between Israel and a much closer neighbor: Jordan.

Progress has recently been made between the two countries, and a letter recently sent by Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz states that his office supports the launch of a pilot in which Jordan will transfer 25 megawatts of solar electricity to the Israeli grid (an amount that can meet the electricity needs of thousands of homes).

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The letter, which was sent to environmental activists and whose details were published in the British "Guardian", does not guarantee that cooperation between the countries will indeed take place, but it is an important step in that direction.

"There is a big change here: Israel has changed its policy, and today it is looking at the possibility of purchasing solar electricity from Jordan, in order to meet its promises to the public and the Paris Agreement on increasing the use of renewable energy," said Gideon Bromberg, Israeli CEO of EcoPeace Middle East. The organization that leads the efforts to create cooperation: The



volume of electricity produced from renewable sources in Israel (the main one being solar energy) is low compared to many other countries, and as of the end of 2019 stands at about 6 percent of total electricity production. Renewable energy set by the government as part of its commitments under the Paris Agreement: The target set for 2014 was 5 percent of electricity from renewable sources, while the actual number was only 1.5 percent, and the target for 2020 was 10 percent. Next year on the list is 2030, and set For it, a target of 17 percent - although last June the Ministry of Energy proposed to increase the target to 30 percent, and presented a plan worth NIS 80 billion in order to meet it.

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Increase Israel's energy security

"Some of the desert areas in Jordan are relatively close to northern Israel, so they can be connected to a short power grid to the north instead of leading solar energy there all the way from the Negev or the Arava."

The purchase of solar energy from Jordan has been marked as a possible way to increase the volume of renewable energy in Israel due to Jordan's natural advantages in the field.

"In Israel, it is very difficult to find land for the construction of solar fields: although there is the Negev, most of it is military training areas and nature reserves are declared," says Bromberg.

"Jordan, on the other hand, is definitely not short of space: half of the population lives in the capital Amman, most of the rest live in a few other big cities, and there are huge desert open spaces. Thanks to the natural conditions in Jordan, it is one of the best places in the world for solar energy production."



"Some of the desert areas in Jordan are relatively close to northern Israel, so they can be connected to a short power grid to the north instead of leading solar energy there all the way from the Negev or the Arava," says Dr. Daniel Madar, a researcher and consultant and founder of SP Interface. that is lost during transportation prolonged and greater financial investment and the sustainability of the construction and operation of infrastructure long. "



" diversification of energy sources, so some of them will be abroad, can also increase the country's energy security, "says Mader. However, it should be noted decentralizing this can It is also a weakness. An example of this is the pipeline that used to carry natural gas from Egypt to Israel. "Terrorist attacks have repeatedly shut down the pipeline until they simply stopped using it," says Madar.



Today, the Jordanian solar energy industry is booming. "They have solar fields, and next year 20 percent of the country's electricity will come from solar sources," says Bromberg. "They set out in their master plan to export electricity to neighboring countries." Easily. "Today they are from

"Negotiations are underway with the aim of selling electricity to Iraq and Egypt as well," he says.

Supports during.

Minister of Energy, Yuval Steinitz (Photo: Reuven Castro)

The coal and steel of the Middle East

The idea that Israel would buy solar energy from Jordan first arose as early as 2012, when the Ecofis organization began raising funds for the initiative and conducting a study examining how such cooperation could be realized.

In 2017, when the writing of the study was completed, the organization began conducting tours and conferences on the subject in our area and overseas.

"At one point the Jordanian government wanted to know if Israel was really interested in such cooperation, they asked us for a letter from Minister Steinitz, and because of the transitional governments it took a year and a half to get it," Bromberg says.



After the letter was received, the ball was in the hands of the Jordanian government.

"While the issue of annexation was relevant, we were told from Jordan that there was nothing to talk about as long as the issue was on the table," Bromberg says.

"But following the recent developments in the region we hope to get a positive response from the Jordanian government."



Bromberg says that Ecofis' vision is based on the European Coal and Steel Community model: an organization set up after World War II that allowed free trade in these resources between France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg, with the aim of creating further cooperation in Europe - and leading to the establishment of the European Union.



"In 2012, we thought deeply about what the Middle East's coal and steel could be - and came to the conclusion that it was the sun and the sea," he says, explaining that their goal is for Israel to use its relative advantage as well - and to sell desalinated water to Jordan in the future.

"We believe that when there is interdependence between countries in resources, with each side having something to sell and something to buy, it will help promote stability in the region."

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Place solar cells on the roof

However, it is important to emphasize that the road to creating Israeli-Jordanian cooperation in the field of solar energy is still long, and even if this is implemented, it is intended to be an addition to the production of local solar energy in Israel and not to replace it.

"The most sustainable way to increase the volume of solar energy production in Israel is to place solar cells on buildings," adds Madar.

"This saves damage to open spaces and the electricity is produced where it is consumed - which prevents energy from being lost on the road (due to the resistance of the RO transmission system) and allows dual use of space instead of destroying natural space. Today it is possible to generate all the electricity Israel needs for buildings. "It's more expensive than placing solar cells on the ground, but it's definitely possible."



No response was received from the Energy Minister's office.



The article was prepared by "Angle - the news agency of the Israeli Association of Ecology and Environmental Sciences".

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Source: walla

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