Solaer sees ‘huge potential’ for solar arrays in Israel.
After building a number of photovoltaic solar facilities in Spain, the Spanish renewable energy company Solaer is now exploring several other sunny markets, including Israel. In fact, Solaer’s founder and CEO, Ignacio Arganza Alvaro, told the Israeli business newspaper Globes that his company hopes to achieve a 10% share of the Israeli market within five years.
Why Israel?
“There’s huge potential here,” he explained during a recent visit. “Germany, the world’s largest solar energy market, is too competitive. France is interesting in terms of tariffs, but it is fairly limited. In contrast, Israel reminds me of Spain in 2005. Israel is at the same latitude as the Canary Islands, and the sun here produces 15% more than in Spain.”
Alvaro recalls his efforts to recruit business partners for solar energy facilities when he started the company in 2005: “No one at the time understood what we were talking about. You had to explain to landowners how photovoltaic technology worked and how silicon cells turn sunlight into electricity. We began recruiting photovoltaic engineers and other professionals in the field. I told them, ‘You don’t know what you have in your hands. This is gold, and we’re going to sell it like crazy’.”
Indeed, Solaer today boasts annual sales of €200 million. The company has set up an Israeli subsidiary and is involved in solar projects in India and Bulgaria.
What about the bureaucratic barriers in Israel?
“Your regulation is all right. You’re a fairly stable country. There’s a near perfect combination of sunlight, low rates, and regulatory stability, and most of all, available money.”
But most solar energy facilities in Spain are land-based, while Israel has yet to draft plans for such facilities.
“It’s true that the big money is in land, but we realize that it is difficult to build such facilities in Israel right now. We’re in no hurry. We’re starting small, we’ll move on to mid-sized, and then we’ll reach the big time.”
:: Image via Wikimedia (Fernando Tomás)and story via Globes
Read more on Green Prophet about PV in Israel:
Will Solar Fields Cover Israel’s Last Open Spaces?
China’s ET Solar Enters Israeli Market Via Local Rep
Tigo Energy’s Solar Solution Monitors Power From The Sun
Author: Ira Moskowitz
When his kids were small, Ira would point to litter on the ground and tell them: “That makes me angry!” He still gets angry about pollution, waste and abusive treatment of our world, but is encouraged by the growing awareness of environmental issues and has been following the latest developments in cleantech with great interest. Ira grew up in the green hills of western Massachusetts and moved to Israel in the early 1980s after completing an MA in Middle Eastern Studies. He has worked as a software developer and journalist, and translates works of Hebrew fiction and non-fiction to English. Ira is trying to age gracefully, but refuses to surrender his youthful belief in the potential for change, including a collaborative future for the peoples of the Middle East. To contact Ira, email ira (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
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