When I arrived from Boston to Kibbutz Ketura on a blistering August day in 2006, there wasn’t a single kilowatt of solar power going into Israel’s grid or, frankly, anywhere in the Middle East. The vision that hit me at that moment was paradoxically quixotic and imminently doable: Israel could lead the solar revolution worldwide by being the first country to be 100% powered by the sun.
Apparently, the dream of the Jewish state being powered by renewable energy was not original. Theodor Herzl proposed the idea over 100 years before I relocated to the Arava. Herzl’s idea, which should be the basis for Israel’s nighttime energy needs from 2030 onwards, was to take advantage of the dramatic drop from the Mediterranean’s sea level to that of the Dead Sea for our equivalent of the Niagara Falls, which Herzl admired. Niagara, it should be noted, has a drop of 180 meters; our steepest drop is more than 400 meters.
A difficult journey
With partners in the Eilat Eilot Municipality, along with Arava Power co-founders David Rosenblatt and Ed Hofland, we set out on a difficult but worthwhile journey. Our purpose was to make the region from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea the first in the world to be wholly powered during the day by the sun by 2020.
We cut the ribbon on that first solar field nearly 15 years ago, and we achieved our world-record regional 100% solar energy goal five years ago – which is both the inspiration and the proof of concept for my energy work with African countries.
However, today Israel is only 15.3% powered by the sun, which clocks in at about one-third the price of gas, and we continue to remain at the bottom of the list of OECD countries when it comes to renewables.
After then-energy and infrastructure minister Uzi Landau cut the ribbon on that first 4.9 MW solar field on Kibbutz Ketura, I told him and his team that the Jewish state could achieve the holy grail of 100% renewables by 2030. To every one of his successors, I have outlined the same goal and how to go about it.
Yet Herzl’s dream of 100% renewables, which we could achieve easily and cost-effectively, has been ruined by special interests that continue to undermine true energy security and independence for the State of Israel.
The election issue
With elections coming up this year, I would like to outline how I would achieve that 100% renewables goal if I became the next energy and infrastructure minister. If the State of Israel accomplished this goal, it would be a shining example for the whole world, boost our economy, and remove our gas rigs as volatile Iranian missile targets.
The fossil fuel industry has poisoned the discussion about scaling renewables with the Big Lie that there is a shortage of land for solar panels. There are about 1,000 moshavim, kibbutzim, recognized Arab villages, and industrial zones within the country. If each were given the right to produce 25 MW of agro-voltaics without costly rezoning – solar panels above food-producing plants – we would strengthen our food security and generate 25 gigawatts of power.
If the Finance Ministry provided one simple tax break for solar panels on shared rooftops, four gigawatts would be produced; and if one simple fix in the land tax code were changed for parking lots and sidewalk shading, we would have another four gigawatts of solar power.
If win-win deals were offered to Bedouin on contested land, which would grant them utility-scale solar fields, another five gigawatts would be produced, along with 10,000 Bedouin jobs. And if Israel would allow Palestinians to build solar fields in Area C, especially for the Waqf, that would save Israel one gigawatt of energy that we wouldn’t need to generate. That’s nearly 40 gigawatts of power at a third of the price of gas for Israel’s grid, which, at its peak, only needs 15 gigawatts. And that’s before you add solar panels at military bases, solar panels in fields along our extensive borders with Egypt and Jordan, importing solar energy from our neighbors, and much more.
The combined price of solar panels and battery storage is still lower than gas. But the right answer for night-energy on a national basis is reviving Herzl’s hydro-power plan, which would also restore the Dead Sea. Menachem Begin was the last prime minister who tried to revive the plan, and the short-sighted bean counters in the Finance Ministry nixed it.
Hydro power
Today, the cost of tunneling has dropped dramatically, so an underground water canal from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea is not expensive and can be completed by 2030.
If Hamas can dig more than 600 kilometers of Gaza tunnels, surely Israel could do a water tunnel of 80 kilometers. Israel’s tunnel would guarantee our night-time energy security cost-effectively, save the Dead Sea, and provide more drinking water for our neighbors and us.
Part of the hydro power would be used to desalinate water for Jordan, which is in Israel’s national security interests.
I can tell you the exact day that Israel will adopt this plan. It is the day an Iranian missile hits the Leviathan gas rig. Or when a missile is launched from a Turkish submarine, or simply a regional earthquake, for which we are due. Not only would our grid go down, but the desalination plants would be cut off because of the cancerous condensates released into the sea from the gas explosion.
Israel’s foolhardy hyper-dependence on expensive, vulnerable, and explosive gas rigs will be the subject of a state commission of inquiry. The day after, the blame will rest on those who have occupied the seats of prime minister and energy and infrastructure minister since that sunny day I arrived from Boston to Kibbutz Ketura.
There is another, better way. Einat Wilf, who just launched the Oz Party for the upcoming elections, I humbly stand ready to serve as your energy and infrastructure minister.■
Yosef I. Abramowitz has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by leaders of 12 African nations and the State of Israel, was named one of the world’s top six Green Pioneers by CNN, and was cited by PV Tech as one of the most inspiring solar CEOs globally. In Israel, he has won the ‘triple crown of impact’ – receiving the country’s top prizes for energy, environment, and international development. A co-founder of the Arava Power Company and Gigawatt Global, he serves as a leader of President Herzog’s Climate Forum, as co-chair of the Shamsuna Bedouin-Jewish climate justice initiative, and co-founder of Gigawatt Impact, a US 501(c)3 promoting solar energy for vulnerable communities. He is the subject of the forthcoming independent film Green Rebels: The Adventures of Kaptain Sunshine. He serves on the board of the Solar Jewish Challenge and as ambassador of the Climate Solutions Prize. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Rabbi Susan Silverman, and they are blessed with five children.
He can be followed @Kaptainsunshine.