A new 100 MW wind energy project is slated for northern Israel.
In the wake of the Israeli government’s support for a major wind farm on the Golan Heights, plans are underway for a similar project in the Galilee region, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported. Measurements in the Galilee indicate that the wind is less powerful than in the Golan – though the Galilee is also less likely to be swept up in a political tempest vis-à-vis Syria.
As reported here earlier, the Golan wind farm will be built on land owned by local Druze residents. Similarly, agreements are being forged with Druze landowners in the Galilee (near Jatt) for deploying an array of wind turbines capable of generating a total of about 100 MW of electricity.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the Ministry of National Infrastructure seeks to declare the Galilee plan – like the planned wind farm in the Golan – a national infrastructure project, which would help expedite the planning approvals. Objections are anticipated from environmentalists because of the potential danger the wind turbines would pose to the flocks of migratory birds that pass through this area.
Minister of National Infrastructure Uzi Landau: “In accordance with the ministry’s policy of preferring wind energy, whose cost of production is significantly low and offers the benefit of adding clean and green energy to the electricity economy, we will continue to mobilize to invest every effort to remove obstacles, to locate additional sites and to promote sources of employment in the North.”
Image via Marc Smith
:: Yedioth Ahronoth
:: Jerusalem Post
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