The Infrastructures Ministry and Israel Lands Administration are seeking, by means of an early announcement, the views of the public for a novel initiative which concerns the allocation of lands for the testing of a wind energy system and the construction of wind energy based power stations in the Negev and the Arava.  

As a result of a Government Decision in January 2009, concerning "fixing a target guideline and formulation of the means of promoting renewable energy particularly in the Negev and Arava Region", the Ministry of National Infrastructures and the Israel Lands Administration have published a document which deals with allocation of land in the Negev and Arava Region for the testing of a wind based energy system with an option for the establishment of power stations for the production of wind based electricity.

The purpose of such early announcement is to enable developers who are interested in establishing power stations operated by wind energy, to submit their comments on the document prior to its final formulation.

According to the document that has been published, developers will be able to pinpoint the location of a potential area for the building of a wind based power station in the Negev and Arava Region and to make a price bid offer for the areas that will be required at the end of the process, for the station. The successful bidders will be afforded an opportunity of carrying out an examination of the required wind based energy area and will also be granted exclusivity in regard to the construction of the station in that area, on the terms and conditions set out in the appeal document.

At the initial stage, following an examination of the wind system, the winners will enter into a contractual authorization agreement for planning and design of the station, at the second stage, following completion of the planning and design, a development agreement will be signed with them for the construction of the station in the designated area, and upon completion of construction the developers will enter in to a lease contract with the [Israel Lands] Administration for a term of 25 years.

Due to the novel nature of the document and its importance, it has been decided to publicly announce its publication on the Infrastructures Ministry website, with the object of enabling interested parties to state their opinion with regard to it and to do so by September 30, 2009.    

The Minister of National Infrastructures, Dr, Uzi Landau, has praised the work and has stated that this is a further step in advancing the aims of the Government which stipulate that 10% of the energy needs in terms of electricity in the year 2020 will be supplied by renewable energy sources. He has also stated that the Infrastructures Ministry and Israel Lands Administration will continue working together for the removal of obstacles pertaining to the allocation of lands to renewable energy developers.