Israel is no stranger to wind power, but using it as a source of viable alternative energy has been criticized by green groups such as SPNI for several reasons. One major reason is that Israel is a flyway for millions of migrating birds heading to Europe via Africa and vice-versa. And no system is in place to protect these birds.
Despite its criticism, Israeli businessman Shlomo Shmeltzer et al. are planning on developing $100 million wind turbine farm in the Arava desert to produce 50 megawatts of energy, The Marker reports. The project will be financed by Afcon Industries, Shmeltzer’s company.
Shmeltzer also plans to build a 100 megawatt plant in Israel’s north; according to the report Israel’s Infrastructure Ministry is planning for 300 MW of wind power for the nation by 2012 to account for 5% of Israel’s total electricity needs.
Read here why wind and Israel might not mix (it’s about the birds).
These projects will increase and grow as more and more people realize the immense need and benefits to the environment and all concerned.
Israel can, should, and will be both a regional and world leader in renewable energy, especially wind and solar, increasingly over the ensuing years.
For information on small wind turbines, contact Andy Kruse of Southwest Windpower Inc, Flagstaff, Arizona USA: [email protected]
I am an environmental engineer and I live in Canada. I have worked on 100’s of MW wind farm projects through my job in wind resource assessment at a power consulting company called ORTECH. I was born and raised in Israel and would like to see more wind projects built in Israel as we do not lack the wind resource yet we definitely lack the green solutions
I am living in Kibbutz Kalia on the shore of the Dead Sea, just outside the main kibbutz in a private project. The area is not built up yet, unlike the main kibbut area there are no trees around, other than the ones I have planted. This means that there is a lot of wind, especially in the evenings. I would be interested in a small home use wind generator, do you have anything?