"The replacement of renewable energy is nil. There will be no choice but to plan and build more power plants," Ido Moore, an energy spokesman in the budget department at the Ministry of Finance, said yesterday.
Moore, speaking at the 18th International Energy and Business Conference in Kfar HaMaccabiah in Ramat Gan, clarified that "Israel is under-performing renewable energy, but even if we meet the targets there will be no choice but to plan and build more power plants, because the solar and renewable energy substitutes It is zero compared to power plants. "
Moore added that the government's target of 20% renewable energy by 2025 "requires a supreme effort, and we must prepare for a situation we will not meet. "The electric vehicles and more. All this requires preparation and the construction of power plants."
Chen Herzog, BDO's chief economist, sounded more decisive and clarified during the conference that "there is no possibility of meeting the government's target of 20% renewable energy by 2025."
According to Herzog, "In order for there to be no excuses in 2030, we need achievable goals and not utopian goals.
"Only what is 90% probability of implementation. The role of all regulators is to admit that we will not meet targets in the eight years remaining until 2030, and to produce a variety of solutions to reduce emissions and not just renewable energies. To develop a competitive market in renewable energies. "
Yossi Abu, Photo: Delek Drilling
Ella Fried, a senior analyst at Bank Leumi, referred to taxes imposed by the government to reduce the use of fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil), making it clear that the burden will fall on citizens: "Natural gas prices are reasonable, reasonable and not too high for European goods," Fried said.
"As for the Israeli market, it is known that there are no spot prices here. It is a very unique market. The market prices are favorable, even too much. The gas layout has been successful in terms of price. Today it is super-convenient, but I am not sure it will remain at that level."
"There is no doubt that the carbon tax will be passed on to buyers. If the government does not do something great in the field of renewable energy, the price of gas will not remain."
Ella Alkalay, VP of Business Development at IBI Investment House, chairman of IBI Mutual Funds, explained that energy storage, the condition for the success of assimilating renewable energies, "is almost science fiction."
Decrease in the price of gas
Yigal Landau, CEO of the energy company Ratio, addressed the issue of the wealth fund, claiming that the gas companies are not to blame for not meeting expectations: "People who for many years delayed the development of Levitan and Tamar are complaining today about the wealth fund," Landau said. When the Bank of Israel gave high expectations to the wealth fund.
But various regulators have delayed the development of the reserves, and the antitrust commissioner, who mistakenly saw a monopoly here, is to blame for the fact that billions have not accumulated in the wealth fund.
"There has also been a drop in the price of gas since the Bank of Israel's forecasts, and this also affects the wealth fund. However, the companies have paid royalties and taxes from day one. NIS 15 billion has already been accumulated, and I expect the wealth fund to grow significantly in the coming years."
Meanwhile, Yossi Abu, CEO of Delek Drilling, said yesterday at a discussion in the special committee regarding the Israel Citizens' Fund that "about NIS 33 billion will enter the wealth fund by 2030 alone, from Tamar and their escorts and not including taxes and royalties."
The discussion dealt with the achievement of the goals of the wealth fund, and presented the partner estimates for payments to be transferred to the state.
"In the last nine years, we have transferred about NIS 15 billion to the state treasury from taxes and royalties, and in the next nine years about NIS 33 billion will be transferred from Tamar and their lenders alone, not including taxes and royalties and not including new developments that may increase sales, and with them state revenues." .
Abu called on Knesset members to act immediately to begin the work of the designated wealth fund.
According to him, there is no reason to delay the fund's activities until the funds are completed.
To the extent that in the future it will be necessary to return tax payments to some of the companies, this will be possible in the form of offsets.