The Ministry of Energy continues to zigzag between plans to expand natural gas production in Israel, and plans to promote renewable energies and curb the focus on gas.
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Energy Minister Karin Elharar recently announced that “to ensure that 2022 is the year of renewable energies – natural gas will wait.”
The remarks were made at the opening of the Eilat-Eilot Conference on Renewable Energies, and were immediately met with enthusiastic responses from various environmental organizations claiming that the country is too busy developing natural gas and therefore neglecting renewable energies.
The intention to focus on renewable energies is of course important, as many argue that as long as the Ministry of Energy is immersed in promoting natural gas, there is no chance of achieving the goals for the transition to massive use of renewable energies. But in practice, the Ministry of Energy’s policy is inconsistent as the ministry focuses on natural gas and plans to increase exports.
Thus, just two and a half weeks ago, Minister Elharar was the guest of Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Tariq al-Mula, and a joint memorandum of understanding was signed between the parties to examine further options for exporting natural gas from Israel to Egypt. “In a statement issued by the Ministry of Energy at that time (end of November) it was stated that natural gas is a fuel beyond reducing greenhouse gas emissions and local pollutants and it opens the door to the transition to renewable energies and other clean energy sources.”
Today gas partnerships cannot significantly increase exports
In practice, what is currently holding back the expansion of natural gas exports from Israel to Egypt and other countries, is the need to complete the construction of transmission infrastructure and double the lines. The program is being implemented at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, with funding coming in part from the state and the other part from the gas partnerships.
At present the gas partnerships cannot significantly increase exports due to the need to adjust the transmission infrastructure. Therefore, in the coming year, the recommendations of the Adiri 2 committee, headed by former director general of the Ministry of Energy Udi Adiri, who recommended increasing gas export quotas, are not expected to be discussed, assuming that within a few years, gas demand has fallen due to the shift to renewable energies.
In addition, there are currently no searches for new gas reservoirs and there is no such forecast for the near future, so even in this aspect there is no practical significance to the statements of the Ministry of Energy. It seems that in the coming year the focus will be on developing the transmission infrastructure so that in 2023 onwards it will be possible to significantly increase the volume of gas exports. It is also clear that if the state invests huge capital in expanding the transmission infrastructure, the next step will be a decision to increase exports.
According to Elharar at the conference, “In the coming year we will focus on the future, green electricity, energy efficiency and renewable energies. “Examined the natural gas policy and did not go into the fourth procedure for granting licenses for natural gas exploration.”
“We will use the coming year for a series of moves that will promote the transition to renewable energies. We will establish a renewable energy department in the ministry that will receive the most attention and resources, We will remove significant barriers facing entrepreneurs. “
“The Ministry of Energy’s guideline is energy security”
The director general of the Ministry of Energy, Lior Shilat, said at the conference that “the guideline of the Ministry of Energy is energy security.” He said, “Then we work around three considerations: the economic consideration, the geopolitical consideration, which has become very dominant in recent years initially in the natural gas aspects in agreements with Egypt and Jordan, and recently also in renewable energy, with the agreement signed by Minister Karin Elharar with Jordan and the Emirates. “In our day-to-day operations as an office, we move between these three, sometimes contradictory, considerations.”
According to Shilat, “I believe that we will be able to reach a target of 30% renewable energy from electricity generation by 2030, it may not seem like an impressive target compared to the world, it is important to remember that the Israeli target consists mostly of solar energy and solar is effective only part of the time. “The leading countries in the world. This means that in order to reach 30%, we are now working to double the entire electricity sector in Israel! The renewable power required by 2030, to meet the target, is more or less equivalent to all the conventional power installed in the economy today.”
As part of the conference, EDF-Renewables Israel today inaugurated the largest solar field in the Arava and the second largest in Israel – Timna with a capacity of 60 megawatts. The power generation power at the Timna site is 60 megawatts. The scope of the investment in the construction of the project is NIS 450 million. A Timna connection to the transmission network now makes it possible to supply all the energy needs of the city of Eilat and the Eilot area with solar energy, but only during the day.
In response to Minister Elharar, the Natural Gas Association said: “The energy crisis plaguing Europe proves that alongside the necessary development of the renewable energy industry, there is no choice but to continue looking for further discoveries of natural gas.” Up. “
Yoni Sapir, chairman of the “Housekeepers” association, said in response to the minister’s statement: “This is definitely a right decision and in the right place. Every shekel or minute of attention to the advancement of the minerals gas industry will come at the expense of advancing renewable energy projects that we so desperately need. The Minister would do well to formulate a policy during this year to repel the conclusions of the Adiri 2 Committee and to stop the further development of Israel’s gas economy. “
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