Israel’s Renewable Energy Strategy: A Review of its Stated Goals, Current Status, and Future Prospects

Israel’s commitment to renewable energy development stems from a desire to reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels while also meeting environmental goals. The Israeli government has aided the development and expansion of the renewable energy sector through a series of favorable regulatory decisions. Solar energy has established itself as the primary driver of the country’s renewable energy development. Wind energy development, on the other hand, is hampered by a slew of political and administrative squabbles, and biomass technology, which is not considered profitable due to its inability to generate grid-level electricity, is investment-constrained. While wind and biomass renewable technologies would benefit overall renewable energy development, they currently offer only marginal growth opportunities. As intermittent renewable energy sources become more common in the electric grid, Israel’s expanding hydropower capacity will help to maintain grid stability and reliability by stepping in during unplanned outages. The country’s 2030 goal is to phase out coal, oil and diesel, and renewable energy will be critical to achieving that goal. Solar photovoltaic tariffs have dropped significantly in recent years, putting this energy resource in direct competition with natural gas, which Israel has in abundance due to its Eastern Mediterranean reserves. Although renewables do not threaten the dominance of natural gas in the electricity market, Israel’s goal of 30 percent renewable energy in the country’s energy mix by 2030, achieved through increased capacity addition across technologies, will help the country meet its climate change mitigation goals.