Launch of the National Project for Solar-powered Electricity

The State of Israel is launching a national project for producing electricity from solar energy in the jurisdiction of Ramat Hanegev, a region encompassing 22% of the country's total land mass. This will undoubtedly be the pioneering flagship project in the field of renewable energy.

The solar power stations about to be built in Ashalim, located in Ramat Hanegev, will produce 250 megawatts, thus making them the largest of their kind in the world! The stations will be composed as follows: two thermo-solar power stations, producing 80-125 megawatts each, and a photo-volt solar power station producing 15 megawatts, with an option for adding another 15 megawatts.

The project is expected to supply approximately 2% of Israel's electricity; this constitutes a substantial milestone in meeting the government's goal of producing 10% of Israel's electricity from renewable energy sources by 2010.
By the end of 2009, contractors will be selected, and at the beginning of 2010 construction is scheduled to begin.

Solar-powered Winery at the Carmei Ovdat Farm
Their 2009 vintage was produced by solar energy

On the roof of the winery at the Carmei Ovdat Farm in Ramat Hanegev, a solar electricity system has been installed, producing 24 kilowatts per hour. The system produces around 40,000 kilowatts per year, meeting 65% of the farms' consumption needs.

The system was installed on 200 square meters by Sun-Day Energy Co., Ltd. At the end of April the system was officially hooked up to Israel's Electric Co. and is currently producing solar energy for thewinery's operation. The system is linked to a computer, and at any given moment one can see graphs and charts displaying the amounts of electricity being produced. In the words of Eyal Yizraeli, "Our winery, starting from the 2009 vintage, will produce wine with the help of solar energy."

Health Springs to Produce Friendly Electricity

The Negev Springs Co., Ltd. – Neve Midbar – has signed a contract with Sun-Day Energy Co., Ltd. to build a center for producing solar energy

The contract will make it possible to place 800 square meters of solar panels on the roof of the Neve Midbar Hot Springs, producing 50 megawatts of self produced electricity for the site and the adjacent 150-room health-spa hotel being constructed by the Negev Springs Co., Ltd. The Neve Midbar Hot Springs site in Ramat Hanegev is based on hot (39°C) thermo-mineral water and attracts around 140,000 visitors per year.

With the signing of the contract, Mayor Shmuel Rifman said, "The community villages of Ramat Hanegev are the country's technological spearhead thanks to the area's suitable climatic conditions for utilizing solar electricity. We're adding yet another green project compatible with the regional council's green agenda to the list of previous initiatives, such as the Carmei Ovdat Farm, the Teneh Farm and the Green House project."

For school children:

Day of cleaning up and marking trails in honor of Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day, pupils of the "Zin" and "Mashabim" elementary schools worked on behalf of environmental protection. On Earth Day, which takes place once a year, entire communities around the world go out in nature with the aim of beautifying and enhancing their surroundings.

The school children went to Nahal Noked ("Tree Brook") and Nahal Haroah to clean up the area and mark hiking and riding trails. Cleaning up and trail-marking is designed to protect nature and to beautify these hiking areas for us and for all the tourists and visitors to Ramat Hanegev. After working hard, the children arrived at the Haroah Rest Area where they enjoyed challenge sports and arts & crafts in nature. Now, all we can do is hope that we'll be able to hold similar fun-packed days in the coming years and that the rising awareness of environmental protection will result in a tangible improvement in the quality of the environment.

And for adults:

"Eco-cinema" in the Desert – Green Film Festival
A unique festival of movies on ecological topics

The purpose of the festival is to raise the awareness of the public at large towards environmental protection, to show acute environmental problems and possible solutions for them, to encourage a creative and original presentation of the topic and to promote both personal (in the home) and societal (national and global) involvement and action.

Besides screening many relevant movies during the festival, we held guided tours of the region, an ecological "happening" for the whole family, music concerts, children's shows on the topic, exhibits and ecological workshops, such as knitting handbags from plastic bags, solar cooking and sculpting from plastic containers. Furthermore, in honor of the festival many film-makers came to talk with the audience about the hot issues raised in their movies.