In recent years, the energy market in Israel has faced strong upheavals that are affected by the increase in oil and gas prices, a shortage of raw materials and the understanding that reliance on fossil fuels is problematic because they are depleting sources whose use also harms the environment. Israel, as a small and dense country, has a shortage of areas on which large solar projects can be established, therefore, creative solutions must be found alongside investment in the existing infrastructure in the country.
In the coming year and even more so in the year after, we will see growth in the number of renewable energy projects that will be established, an improvement in their efficiency and the introduction of innovative technologies. The year 2023 will be very significant for Doral
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because during it, almost a gigawatt of projects at dozens of different sites in Israel and abroad are expected to be connected to the electricity grid. The main activity is ground-based solar installations and energy storage, with the first swallow in the form of a solar installation with storage inaugurated in Kibbutz Holit in the Negev – the first of its kind in Israel. Doral also invests in technologies to improve storage capabilities and recycling solutions for batteries, with the help of its innovation and investment arm, Doral Energy Tech Ventures, which invests in companies and startups synergistic to the company’s fields of activity.
The establishment of Doral’s facility in Holit is a precedent in Israel, because until today there were very few facilities for storing green energy. Most of the production of solar energy is done in rural areas where there are large areas for the construction of suitable facilities, but the national electricity grid is very busy and the electricity producers face difficulties in transporting it to the center of the country – where most of the electricity is consumed. Storage of energy produced during the day with the help of dedicated batteries and its flow into the national electricity grid for use during peak consumption hours can help deal with the load on the electricity grid.
Huge demand for green electricity
These processes are closely related to the new reform in the energy sector. In January, a dramatic decision by the Electricity Authority to regulate the electricity market – the regulation of the market model – entered into force. Until today, energy production companies could only sell the electricity to the electricity company and receive a fixed rate. Household and industrial consumers bought only from the electric company, with a few exceptions who were able to buy from private producers (PP).
The regulation makes a change in two segments, on the consumer side and on the producer side. The market system creates a sophisticated and competitive energy market, in which consumers can choose whether their electricity supplier is the electric company or one of the private producers. In addition to this, from January 2024 entrepreneurial companies such as Doral will be able to associate their production facilities with the free market, thus selling electricity to end consumers (and not to the electricity company) at competitive prices. And no less importantly, this step created a new product that did not exist until today – green electricity for end customers. The market arrangement allows Doral to build the large number of facilities currently under construction in this format, thus immeasurably improving the yields of its solar and storage facilities.
On the consumer side, these days there is a huge demand for green electricity from high-tech companies, public companies and international companies that have a branch in Israel. Many of them are committed to green energy consumption due to regulation that applies in their countries of origin, or due to the ESG policies they implement. There are also Israeli companies that export to European Union countries and undertake to use green electricity to avoid high taxation and damage to sales due to being labeled as polluting producers, or any other company that considers it important to use clean electricity for the benefit of the environment.
The supply of green electricity in Israel currently stands at only about 10 percent of all electricity production in Israel (and most of it is not available to consumers but is sold directly to the electric company), in the face of high demand, so that not everyone will be able to receive clean electricity in the first stage. Clean electricity is a premium product these days. Doral controls 40 percent of the green electricity supply that will be available in 2024-2025 and intends to be a significant player in this sector, and with the appropriate collaborations will also produce electricity for the domestic segments.
Creative agriculture
The leading solution to dealing with the lack of open spaces in Israel is the joint use of land for agriculture and the production of green energy: the establishment of an agro-voltaic project, set up in such a way that agriculture and energy exist side by side in synergy.
Doral has developed a unique solution in which there is control over the amount of shading created by the solar panels, thus achieving optimal results for both agriculture and energy, along with advanced technological solutions for agriculture, such as mechanisms for remote control of the plant to improve its treatment and mechanisms for protection against cold or heat. The company is currently setting up such projects across the country alongside experimental plots in combination with the academy. Alongside agriculture, the farmer is a partner in an active solar project that produces economic certainty.
The use of the land resource is much more efficient, since the establishment of solar fields not only serves the energy market in Israel but also promotes the nutritional security of its residents.
The fuel of the future
To complete the global transition to clean and non-polluting energy, it is necessary to integrate green hydrogen into the energy mix. Hydrogen is the most efficient unit of energy, meaning that very little matter produces a great deal of energy. This is the reason why this common element will be the fuel of the future, especially in heavy transportation – planes, ships and trucks – which is limited in its ability to use energy storage and lithium-ion batteries which are very large and heavy.
Although hydrogen is the most common element on earth, it does not appear in the form of an element and needs to be freed from the molecules of which it is a part. Until today, it was customary to produce the substance in several ways, but all of them are polluting. In recent years, they began to use another and cleaner method – hydrogen production using renewable energy – “green hydrogen”.
Doral is establishing a first-of-its-kind project in Kibbutz Yatva where green electricity produced by solar panels is used to separate hydrogen from water in an electrolysis process. The products of this process provide the energy needs of the kibbutz and its surroundings, and in the future even more. The cost of producing hydrogen is constantly decreasing, and within a few years its production will meet the needs of Energy will be more economical than any alternative.
These ventures and projects bring Doral to 2023 stronger and bigger. Today Doral is the leading company in the renewable energy market in Israel with a large number of projects to produce electricity in traditional ways such as solar and in creative ways such as solar agriculture and the integration of storage capacity. In the coming years Doral will strengthen the Israeli economy and march it into the future of clean, accessible and affordable electricity consumption.
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