Arava Power contracted with a Negev tribe to build a solar
installation, and wants to get 30% of Israel’s feed-in tariff caps set
apart for the Bedouin.
An
Israeli solar company Arava Power is working to help the Bedouin Arabs,
a mostly nomadic tribal people living in Israel, develop their share of
the solar industry.
Last year, Arava signed a contract with the Tarabin tribe in the
Negev Desert to build a solar installation. The contract was the
company’s first step toward generating solar electricity on Bedouin
lands in Israel’s southern desert region, where the majority of Bedouin
live.
In September, the Ministry of Interior’s Southern Regional Planning
and Building Committee approved a plan for a photovoltaic solar
installation adjacent to Tarabin, to be based in the Abu Basma Regional
Council. It was a historic move for the Bedouin, who can expect jobs and
attractive lease incomes from the deal.
Bedouins visiting Arava Power’s solar field in Kibbutz Ketura get a warm welcome and support for their aspirations.
The community leader, Haj Mousa Tarabin, said: “I am glad there are
people who are concerned and are helping the Bedouin improve their
lifestyle — on the economic level as well as with creating various
sources of income.”
The Israeli government has offered attractive incentives for solar
field development. In 2008 it was announced that the Israeli Public
Utility Authority would approve a feed-in tariff for solar energy
plants.
Feed-in tariffs are policies set by governments, so that over a
particular period, a guaranteed return on investment can be given to
anyone who returns power back to the grid, via solar power installations
or other renewable energies like wind. Israel’s feed-in tariffs were
set for mid-sized solar installations until 300 megawatts are returned
to the grid, meaning there is somewhat of a “race” now on for companies
to install mid-sized solar panel farms around the country.
The ultimate plan is to launch 30 megawatts in five locations,
boosting the economies of the Bedouin communities as no initiative has
before. The team at Arava is putting heart and soul into getting the
Israeli Bedouin to benefit from the Israeli solar “gold rush.”
With an immediate $30 million in backing, 80 percent of which comes
from the United States government, Arava says it has a total of $3
billion in financing from major companies like Siemens, and is ready to
develop the Bedouin solar industry.
“This
is one of the more meaningful, important and fun things that we get to
do,” says Abramowitz. “There’s definitely a historical element,” he
adds, believing that Israel is and should be a “renewable light unto the
nations” to paraphrase the ethical biblical imperative for Jews to
conduct themselves as an example to others.
Abramowitz meets with the Bedouin every Wednesday. Working over
handshakes, cheek kisses and small cups of sweet tea before the lawyers
come in, Abramowitz has managed to develop business opportunities for
Israeli Bedouin that hold the promise of jobs and attractive leasing
fees that beat any kind of agricultural developments they could build on
water-poor land.
“About 60% of the land of Israel is desert, and about 30% of the
people who live in the desert are Bedouin,” says Abramowitz. Helping
them access the global green economy is a moral imperative, he says.
The need to enlist an army of Israel’s citizens in the energy
challenge dovetails nicely with Jewish values. “The earth is heating up
and the [earth’s people] have to do their part to switch to renewable
energy,” Abramowitz says.
Israel, he says, can “set a new standard for ramping up solar energy,
and eventually be the first economy to transfer from hydrocarbon-based
to solar-based — this is doable and worthwhile.”
http://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-solar-power/