Israel is reportedly planning to launch tender to develop a solar power facility with capacity of up to 500MW.

Planned to be built in the southern Negev desert, the PV project is expected to be the largest of its kind in the country.

Israel Finance Ministry was reported by Reuters as saying that the project will be "unprecedented" in size for the country, built across about 6km2 area near the town of Dimona.

The winner of the tender round will be responsible for developing the solar PV complex under the public private partnership (PPP) model.

The selected firm will design, finance, build, operate and maintain the project for a defined period following which the assets will become state-owned. 

The ministry was quoted by SeeNews Renewables as saying that the pre-qualification round details will be announced in near future.

Meanwhile, the ministry has selected 10 groups to bid for the a tender round to build and operate another smaller 40MW PV station nearby, in the desert town of Ashalim.

The second project is planned to be completed by the end of 2018.

The two projects are expected to contribute to the country’s effort to generate 10% of its power from renewable sources by the end of this decade.

In April, Israel based construction and infrastructure company Shikun & Binui has selected Noy Fund and TSK Group to support the development of the $1.1bn NIS 4B Ashalim thermo-solar power plant in Israel.

Claimed to be the largest of its kind in Israel, the solar thermal electricity plant will be capable of storing energy in order to produce electricity even after sunset.


Image: Israel aims to generate 10% of its power from renewable sources by 2020. Photo: courtesy of graur codrin/ Freedigitalphotos.net.