Initial Approval For Renewable Energy Bill In Israel

Taking a major step towards setting up renewable energy targets, a legislative body in Israel approved a renewable energy bill.

With provisions of setting up time-bound renewable energy targets, a bill was approved by the Ministerial Committee of Legislation. The bill is expected to facilitate the government’s setting up of targets for renewable energy generation.

The bill is expected to help Israel achieve the emissions reduction target it submitted to the United Nations earlier this year. Israel aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 26% from 2005 levels by 2030. The submission also includes a target to increase the share of renewable energy in the country’s total energy production to 17%, from current 2%. The new bill may address the share of renewable energy in the electricity sector.

Over the last few months, the Israeli government has shown intent to promote renewable energy technologies. Following discussions with Greenpeace Israel, the Israeli Ministry of Finance stated that it hopes to enact net-metering regulations and policies to remove hurdles for increasing investment in the solar power sector.

Israel is also working on large-scale solar power projects. It issued licenses to 9 projects with combined generation capacity of 385 MW. The Public Utility Authority has also issued 50 licenses for smaller projects with a total installed capacity of 116 MW.