ELECTRICITY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY - ISRAEL PROFILE

Israel's electricity sector faces the dual challenge of rapid economic growth - relative to most Western countries - and generation capacity that is barely sufficient to meet current needs. Israel has been at the forefront of renewable energy development for over 50 years, but, with the sole exception of solar water heating, has been unable to use these technological developments to develop its own renewable electricity generation sector. Since 2002, however, the Government of Israel has taken steps toward incentivising renewables development by the private sector, in order to reduce its heavy reliance on imported fuels and to meet its international obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. However, these steps have not stimulated renewables sector growth. Recently published feed-in tariff's for solar thermal and photovoltaic installations and tenders for large-scale commercial solar thermal and photovoltaic systems in the Negev, combined with other proposed incentives discussed in the final section of this chapter, may provide the incentives needed to develop a significant renewable energy sector in the country. Nevertheless, the burden of proof remains on the Government of Israel to ensure that this progress continues during the next several years, despite the major economic and geopolitical challenges facing the country during this period.