Last week, the government decided not to decide about the construction of the proposed Reindeer Energy Eastern Power Station power plant in the South Sharon regional council, and by a majority of eight to six voted to send the plans back to the National Infrastructures Committee. As for the plan for expanding the OPC power plant in Hadera, the government decided to cancel it.
This is a further stage in the unending story of the two power plants. In May last year, the government decided not to approve them. It waited for the decision of the National Infrastructures Committee, which approved the plans on March 18 this year, despite heavy political pressure. Since then, Minister of Transport Miri Regev has continued to fight the plans, contrary to the stance of the professional staff in her own ministry, and she demanded that the matter should be discussed by the government again.
By law, if the National Infrastructures Committee approves a plan, ministers have 21 days in which to require a discussion on the matter in the government, otherwise the committee’s decision becomes final. If the government decides against the plan, that decision becomes final. In this case, the government has apparently decided to return the Reindeer plan to the National Infrastructures Committee for amendments.
This decision comes on top of the unexplained foot-dragging by Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), which for over a year has failed to publish regulations for three power plants that have been approved for construction. One of them is the Dalia 2 plant, which was approved in May 2019. In its case, IEC sought to wait until other power plants were approved. The other two are the expansion of the Dorad plant and the construction of the Kessem plant, which were approved by the government in the same session last year in which it was decided not to approve the Reindeer plant and expansion of the OPC plant.
Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Eli Cohen said, "The decision by the government, following an in-depth discussion, properly reflects the energy needs of the State of Israel, and of course takes into account the public interest as well. The government’s decision to cancel the construction of an additional unit at the OPC Hadera power station and return the Reindeer power station to the committee is to provide an appropriate solution to the outstanding matters: transport planning, a diesel fuel pipeline as backup to the gas-fueled plant, the setting of criteria that will ensure that power plants will geographically spread as appropriate, and expediting the construction of the Sorek power station to ensure a competitive price at the other power stations
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 21, 2024.
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as well."