In his last day on the job, Minister of National Infrastructures Benjamin Ben-Eliezer yesterday signed a third license for a pumped storage power plant for a private power producer. He granted the first two licenses in March.
The conditional license was issued to Agira Shoeva - Electra LP, a consortium of Electra Ltd. (TASE: ELTR) and the Galilee Development Company Ltd., and Sheva Mizrakot Ltd., a joint venture of private investors and the Upper Galilee Regional Council. The consortium is building a 200-megawatt pumped storage power plant at Menara in the Upper Galilee. The consortium will receive a permanent license if it meets certain stipulated conditions.
Ben-Eliezer has signed private power licenses for the production of a total of 4,000 megawatts of electricity. He said, "Expanding the use of pumped storage power technology in Israel will improve the efficiency of current resources. I expect that we'll produce 800 megawatts by pumped storage power technology by 2015, and to double that output over the subsequent decade."
Pumped storage technology generates electricity by exploiting the difference in altitude between the upper water reservoir and the lower power plant. The technology is feasible due to the difference in electricity rates between peak and off-peak hours, since the water is pumped to the upper reservoir at night, during off-peak electricity rates, and sent back down to generate power during peak rates times.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 1, 2009
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