The Ministry of Finance in Israel has acknowledged receiving applications from 27 local and international companies for a 300 MW solar power plant planned to be the country's largest PV facility. In January 2020, the Ministry of Energy had sought interest for the project in a pre-qualification round (see Israel Launches 300 MW Solar Power Tender).
The ministry said this is the 'highest' number of bids submitted to date for the construction of a solar power plant in the country. Tender documents will be made available in the coming months for this solar plus storage project.
It will be located in the Negev Desert near the city of Dimona as a public private partnership (PPP) project. Construction on site is expected to begin in 2022 and the project will come online in 2024, as per the current timeline, shared the ministry.
"The Dimona solar auction is an important milestone in the electricity economy and the way of achieving the state's goals in renewable energy," said Dr. Asaf Eilat, Chairman of the Electricity Authority. "The technological innovation inherent in combining energy storage with a facility to be built also adds to the tender attractiveness."
Solar power is an important element of the Middle Eastern country's strategy to have 17% of its electricity mix to come from renewables. Recently, the Ministry of Energy and Electricity issued a draft policy aiming to increase the country's commitment to renewable energy from 17% by 2030 to 30% with 15.77 GW coming from solar power alone (see Israel Wants Over 15 GW Solar By 2030).