The Israeli government selected Negev Energy as the successful bidder in a build-operate-transfer (BOT) tender to build, own and operate a CSP plant totaling 110 MW in the Ashalim area of the Negev desert. The company is a joint venture between Spain's Abengoa and Israeli infrastructure group Shikun & Binui.
Construction on the plant is expected to begin next year once the power purchase agreement and project financing are closed.
Israel Electricity Corporation will buy the electricity generated by the plant under a 25 year power purchase agreement. In addition to avoiding more than 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, the solar plant will also retain enough heat to continue producing power through the night.
In order to reduce its dependence on fossil energy, the Israeli government has set a target to cover 10% of the countrys electricity need through renewable energy by 2020. To that end, the country has solar-thermal power projects and PV power stations with a total capacity of 250 MW in the planning at the Ashalim site in the Negev.
For Abengoa, the plant is one of many projects the company has in operation around the world. Earlier this year, Abengoa announced it was partnering with BrightSource Energy to develop, build and operate a 500 MW solar power tower project in the U.S. state of California. It also saw a 100 MW solar thermal plant developed with French energy company Total go online in the United Arab Emirate of Abu Dhabi in March.
Abengoa currently has 910 MW in construction and 743 MW in operation around the world.
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