Israel's Ministry of Energy calculates the country's renewable energy potential to grow to 30% electricity generation share by 2030 with solar as central to the plan contributing a cumulative of 17.145 GW, an increase of 13.554 GW from the current installed solar capacity of the country.
In a roadmap and action plan unveiled by the ministry along with its Electricity Authority, Israel will be looking at having 20% electricity generation come from renewable energies by 2025 with solar accounting for 9.8 GW of the total.
At the end of 2021, Israel's installed solar power capacity was 3.591 GW solar including 1.999 GW ground mounted PV and 1.35 GW dual use or co-located PV, as per the information shared.
The 'operative plan' presented evaluates existing conditions and policies to deduce that 80% of the solar potential comes from co-location which could be agrivoltaic, floating solar, rooftop solar, and only 20% from that installed in open spaces by the end of 2030 due to lack of land resources in the country.
It counts especially on agrivoltaic, making use of solar energy and land in a useful way, for which local authorities will need to be encouraged to establish renewable energies in their territory, and promoting sites identified by the ministry. At the same time, the focus will be on encouraging rooftop solar adoption.
The Government will also look into accelerating construction of the electricity transmission network to absorb this expected growth in renewables along with promoting planning procedures for additional power lines. The Energy Ministry said it will also push for pilots for independent energy complexes.
"The integrative operative plan will be reviewed against the objectives on an ongoing basis and updated accordingly," stated the ministry. "Success in meeting renewable energy targets depends on the implementation of the policy measures outlined in the operational plan, and requires close governmental cooperation."
The roadmap as well as the action plan is available on the Energy Ministry's website in Hebrew language.
Back in February 2022, the country's Environmental Protection Ministry recommended expanding the national renewable energy share from 30% to 40% by 2030 with potential to deploy about 20 GW solar (see Israel Mulls 20 GW Solar Target By 2030).