Germany's Belectric is building a 19.3 MW floating solar farm in Israel calling it one among the largest plants of its kind in the country. Its Israel based subsidiary has been contracted by France's EDF to build the project as EPC contractor, and also to undertake operations and maintenance (O&M) of the facility.
Belectric will build the project in northern Israel on a water reservoir for fish farming pools near the Kibbutz Lohamei HaGeta'ot. It plans to begin construction in early summer and plans to energize the facility by the end of 2021.
The Israeli subsidiary of German company will individually mount more than 47,700 PV modules on a floating platform and connect these to a rapid shut down device to improve electrical safety features enabling safe operations of fishing ponds during O&M phase, it explained. Belectric said it has especially designed a complex anchoring system to hold the floating platform in place with direct rammed piers and under water concrete blocks.
In Israel, Belectric has installed a total of 34 solar projects to date representing around 500 MW in capacity, and it includes a 480 kW floating solar power facility it brought online for Nofar Energies in March 2020 (see Floating Solar Power Plant Commissioned In Israel).
EDF entered the floating solar space with a 20 MW project in France announced in February 2021 (see EDF Enters Floating Solar Space With 20 MW Project). Referring to the 19.3 MW facility in Israel, EDF Renewables Israel's Deputy CEO Avner Arad said, "This project, a first of many to come, allows us, in cooperation with BELECTRIC to implement many new technologies, design concepts and construction methods. This will allow us to improve Floating PV competitiveness, which with its other benefits, has the potential to drastically expand Israel's renewable energy landscape."