February Edition 2021

7 In several countries, the PV contribution to the electricity demand has passed the 5% mark with Honduras in first place with almost 15%. Israel is second with an estimated 8.7% and Germany third with a theoretical penetration level of 8.6%, according to a 2020 snapshot of the global PV market by The International Energy Agency (IEA). “The main sectors that have been active in Israel are solar, wind and hydro (pumped storage),” says Phillips. “We work with some of the main players including Enlight Renewable Energy (wind, solar), Meshek Energy Ltd. (wind, solar), S’nergy Renewable Energies Ltd. (wind, solar), Noy Infrastructure Fund (wind, solar, waste to energy), Allied Infrastructures (wind, solar) and Star Pumped Storage (hydro). We also act for lenders to other key players – such as EDF, Shikun & Binui Energy and others.” He adds: “In the past year, Enlight have closed financing on the Bereshit (Genesis) 189 MW wind farm in the north of Israel and are heading towards completion of the Emek Habacah wind project. Enlight also refinanced five ground PV Projects.Meshek Energy has completed an IPO and bond issuance to raise finance for the construction of PV projects.” There is more activity in the capital markets field. Noy adds “EBN is also representing several prominent renewables players, which are in the process of publishing IPOs, as part of the strong local trend of companies in this field which are raising funds from the public through the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.” Illuz acknowledges: “There are other key players focused on renewable energy, especially solar PV and wind, such as Energix Group, Dorel Energy Group, Enlight Energy and Meshek Energy, all of them are traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. For example, these latter companies participated in the recent Electricity Authority’s Competitive Procedure for building solar PV power plants and won parts of the allotment (609 MW),” points out Illuz. And PV contribution to the total is growing Renewables: Local trend of raising funds through the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange