A new alternative energy project will soon be launched in the northern Golan Heights. A 70 wind turbine farm, which is capable of producing 200 megawatts of energy, will be built by an Israeli company called Multimatrix in collaboration with an American company AES, a worldwide developer of power projects. It will help alleviate growing concerns over the potential of future energy shortages in Israel.
Yosi Omid and his brother Uri Omid serve as the director and CEO of Multimatrix and are extremely enthusiastic about the project. As quoted in the article, they call the project a “revolution” and feel that it will be their “contribution to Israel, showing that we can make electricity in a green way.”
The wind farm will be built in the Golan Heights, an area that was captured from Syria by Israel in the 1967 war. Syria seeks the return of the Golan with any peace deal with Israel, so it is also a political issue. Nevertheless, the Omid brothers call it a “peace project” and are confident that no matter who will be there and where the electricity will go, it will be a good, clean, green energy that will benefit people. They also commented that this type of green energy is proven to be efficient and profitable and will put an end to the jokes about green projects that are made by people who don’t take it seriously.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to be taking green energy seriously and has declared the wind farm a national project. It has also gained the support of government officials, who recognize the need for alternative energy sources in Israel. Before this project was approved by Israel’s Public Utility Authority (PUA), the agency responsible for issuing licenses to build power plants, they had to ensured that the company had valid contracts proving that they owned the land, showed a sound financial situation and had the capability to deliver the power nationwide.
A related article in the Jerusalem Post dated Sept. 21st, mentions that when Netanyahu gave the project national priority, that helped to abbreviate the time it would take for the farm to be up and running. It will take six months to a year to install the turbines and the current plan is for the farm to begin operation in 2012. Each turbine will be 80 meters tall and have a blade diameter of 50 meters. Each turbine will use 300 square meters and be set 300 meters apart. The land will still be used for agricultural purposes and cows will even be free to roam on the land - and interestingly enough, it apparently has been shown that cows use the turbine poles to scratch their backs. (Interesting - I'd love to see a photo of that!)
Wind energy is stated to be the most economically competitive of alternative energies to fossil fuels and has seen a massive surge in development around the world. European countries like Denmark and the Netherlands have been using wind farms for years. Apparently, there are some skeptics who have questioned whether Israel has sufficient wind speeds to sustain a robust wind power industry, but several experts believe that Israel does have greater potential than the skeptics believe.
I found both articles in the Jerusalem Post and it's interesting to note that one of them is by an independent reporter working for The Media Line. I found that The Media Line is a non-profit news organization which describes itself as being established to enhance and balance media coverage in the Middle East. I understood that the Jerusalem Post probably works with reporters from other organizations as supplements to their own staff. The information that The Media Line reporter provided included interviews with people involved in the project. The other reporter included more descriptive information about the size and scope of the project. Both are reliable types of information. They also both seemed to favor the construction of the wind farms (indicating a pro-alternative energy point of view) and portrayed it as beneficial to Israel while any reference to the potential problem of it being built in the Golan Heights was only mentioned in the first article in the context of it being a "peace project."
I found both articles in the Jerusalem Post and it's interesting to note that one of them is by an independent reporter working for The Media Line. I found that The Media Line is a non-profit news organization which describes itself as being established to enhance and balance media coverage in the Middle East. I understood that the Jerusalem Post probably works with reporters from other organizations as supplements to their own staff. The information that The Media Line reporter provided included interviews with people involved in the project. The other reporter included more descriptive information about the size and scope of the project. Both are reliable types of information. They also both seemed to favor the construction of the wind farms (indicating a pro-alternative energy point of view) and portrayed it as beneficial to Israel while any reference to the potential problem of it being built in the Golan Heights was only mentioned in the first article in the context of it being a "peace project."
I feel it would have been more reliable to provide actual statistics about the efficiency of wind power compared to other alternative energies and fossil fuels. Also, more information about why the skeptics think that Israel doesn't have sufficient wind speeds to sustain a wind power industry. I would imagine that before investing hundreds of millions of dollars in such a venture, the experts and investors involved would have made sure that Israel has sufficient wind speeds to merit such an investment.
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