The Israeli Knesset is installing what it says is the largest solar PV installation on any parliament building in the world. The 450 kW array will consist of some 1,500 custom-made solar panels covering more than 4,650 square meters.
The solar array, which cost Israeli taxpayers ILS 2.4 million ($610,137), employs JA Solar's JA PV modules and is expected to generate some 10% of the Knesset's electricity and, along with additional energy-saving measures, help reduce the building's energy use by a third.
The Knesset expects the solar array to result in savings of more than $76,000 a year. The installation will become the first national institution in Israel to operate under the countrys net-metering scheme.
Israel launched the first part of its Green Knesset project last year. Regarded as a flagship project for Knesset Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, Green Knesset consists of 13 projects aimed at saving energy and water that have been approved and budgeted. The Knesset has invested nearly $1.8 million in the project and anticipates annual savings of some $380,000. The legislature will transfer annual savings to the "Green Fund," which will continue to finance new Green Knesset projects. All of the projects that have been approved are economically viable and expected to pay for themselves within five years.
The Knesset will unveil its solar array during a special ceremony on March 29.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.