Body overseeing rehabilitation of Gaza border communities issues call for green energy projects

The Energy Ministry, Finance Ministry and Tekuma Administration, which is responsible for overseeing the rehabilitation of Gaza border communities, issue a call for green energy projects worth NIS 33 million ($8.8 million).

This is the first call for implementation of a five-year green energy plan for the region, budgeted at NIS 300 million ($80 million).

According to a statement, the Energy Ministry’s initiative aims to provide regional resilience and energy independence and will include funding for energy storage facilities and the burial of power lines.

Funding will be allocated along different tracks to the kibbutzim and moshavim impacted by the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, as well as to the four regional councils and the city of Sderot.

The statement says that the two ministries and the Tekuma Administration will work with the various communities to develop a strategic plan to turn the Gaza border into a flagship for clean energy, resilience and energy independence. Within this framework, an RFI (request for information) will be made to the public for innovative technologies.

Yossi Shelley, director general of the Prime Minister’s Office and head of the Tekuma Administration, says the administration and the local authorities have identified renewable energy as a “strategic and economic anchor.”

“In order to provide energy security for the residents, some of whom found themselves cut off from electricity on October 7 during critical hours, and to ensure continuity in the energy supply both during normal and emergency periods, today’s call will make funding available to each community on the Gaza border and to each of the local authorities to promote energy security for its residents,” he adds.