Counting Down to ‘Ben-Gurion’s Solar Revolution’
The homepage of the Arava Power Company’s website shows a clock counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to “Ben-Gurion’s Solar Revolution.”
On June 5, in celebration of World Environment Day, the company will inaugurate Israel’s first commercial solar field at Kibbutz Ketura in the Arava Valley. The Arava Power Company is a privately held partnership, owned by Global Sun Partners, Siemens, and KKL-JNF. It is the only public-private partnership in the solar market in Israel.
The solar power field uses photovoltaic (PV) technology, which produces no emissions, makes no noise and uses no water. The backers of the venture hope that increased use of solar energy will reduce the need for new coal plants in Israel. In November of last year, Israel’s Infrastructure Ministry signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement worth NIS 250 million with the company, allowing it to supply power to Israel’s electrical grid.
Inspired by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s statement from back in 1956 that, “the largest and most impressive source of energy in our world, the source of life for every plant and animal, yet a source so little used by mankind today is the sun…solar energy will continue to flow toward us almost indefinitely,” Yosef I. Abramowitz, the company’s President, raised initial seed money of over $3 million from 100 limited partners. Siemens then invested $15 million in the company.
Abramowitz, founder of Jewish Family & Life, made aliyah to Israel and moved to Kibbutz Ketura with his wife, Rabbi Susan Silverman, and their children a number of years ago.
A video invitation to the inauguration on June 5 went out last month. It opens with a photo of Ben-Gurion and his inspiring quotation, but quickly moves on to a group of young people dancing and leaping in the desert — making solar energy look youthful, flexible, hip and energetic.
Watch the Video Invitation to the Inauguration of Israel’s First Solar Field:
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
