February Edition 2021

5 Having seen the political temperature rise in January, the focus shifts back onto rising global temperatures, with climate change a cornerstone of President Biden’s agenda, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson looking to “turn Britain into the Saudi Arabia of wind” and Israel building some of the most cutting-edge solar farms in the world. We explore the current state of play in the renewable energy sector and ask where are we headed? For the past 150 years or so, humans have relied heavily on coal, oil, and other fossil fuels to power everything from light bulbs to cars to factories. As such, in any discussion about climate change, renewable energy usually tops the list of changes the world can implement to stave off the worst effects of rising temperatures. Political will, bureaucracy and costs were among the usual impediments. Has this changed? Israel aims toproduce30%of thecountry'selectricity fromrenewablesby2030 “On the whole, the Israeli government has been keen to promote renewable energy and in fact, recently, the Government updated its renewables target to 30% by the year 2030,” sai d Mark Phillips, co-head of the Project Finance department at Herzog Fox & Neeman. In October 2020, Israel's government approved a proposal by Energy Minister Dr. Yuval Steinitz aiming to produce 30% of the country's electricity from renewable sources by 2030, with an emphasis on solar energy. Israel had committed to 17% by 2030 under the Paris Agreement but a t the end of 2019, Israel produced just 5% of its electricity from renewable sources. “This decision will radically change the energy mix of the Israeli economy and position the country as one of the leading Western countries in solar energy production, at the expense of power plants operating on natural gas and diesel,” the Ministry of Energy stated. The plan is set to cost some NIS 80 billion (USD 22 billion) over the coming decade. During that discussion, it was decided that the Energy Ministry will evaluate and update the targets for 2030 by the end of 2024. Powering up Renewables