President Shimon Peres this week launched the world’s first commercial thermal-electric solar farm, which will generate solar electricity along with hot water for Kibbutz Yavne, and said it will help fight terror by reducing dependency on Iranian oil.
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Israeli Zenith Solar firm designed the novel system for Yavne, a national-religious kibbutz located halfway between Tel Aviv and Be’er Sheva. The solar energy complex uses mirrors that magnify the sun’s power 1,000 times instead of employing the standard low-efficiency solar cell.
The Zenith system harvests 50 percent of the sun’s radiation, compared with 10 percent in standard systems. A single solar cell opposite a concave dish of 1,000 small mirrors absorbs the solar energy. Each mirror measures about 15 centimeters (six inches) in each direction.
Elisha Ben Gedalyahu
The dishes, currently numbering more than two dozen, are powered by a 60-watt motor that keeps them positioned opposite the sun.
Elisha Ben Gedalyahu
Water, pumped to the cell at the rate of seven liters (1.8 gallons) a minute to keep it from burning out, limits its surface temperature to “only” 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees Fahrenheit).
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The resultant near-boiling water is pumped into a 20,000-liter (5,200-gallon) storage tank that keeps the water hot for up to 24 hours. From there, it is pumped to kibbutz homes.
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Zenith’s team, which includes entrepreneur Roy Segev and Ben Gurion University Professor David Faiman, explained that the system will provide approximately half of the energy needs of Kibbutz Yavne residents. They will be saving 40,000 liters (10,400 gallons) of regular fuel, and the cost of the solar energy will be approximate 8 cents a kilowatt hour, slightly less than the cost of electricity supplied by the Israel Electric Corp (IEC).
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
President Peres, speaking at the ceremony launching the solar farm, called it “democratic” energy that is available to everyone in the world. He added, “It is a natural way to fight terror because the oil-producing countries of Iran and Venezuela destroy our lives by terror.”
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Segev, Zenith’s chief executive officer, noted that the project is financed solely by Israeli venture capitalists and without government aid. Zenith co-founder Bob Whelan of Australia refrained from detailing the cost of the project but said it amounts to “millions of dollars.” Yavneh’s business manager Moshe Leider said the kibbutz made a modest investment of less than $250,000 for the pilot system.
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The solar farm is located next to the kibbutz’s high school and in the heart of the cooperative agricultural-industrial community. The rows of the solar system are approximately 50 feet apart. Yavneh, known for its thriftiness and resourcefulness since it was founded 68 years ago, is not going to waste the two acres (eight dunam) of land.
Elisha Ben Gedalyahu
Lieder said that a vineyard will be planted between the rows of solar dishes, making the solar field a true farm in the original sense of the word.
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu