The Megalim Solar Power joint venture of US firm BrightSource (25.05%), France’s Alstom (25.05%) and Israel’s NOY Infrastructure and Energy Investment Fund (49.9%) has secured NIS2.35bn ($690mn) of funding from the European Investment Bank and Bank Hapoalim for the 121MW Ashalim concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Israel. Total project cost is estimated at NIS2.9bn ($850mn).
Plant completion is scheduled for early 2017. BrightSource will provide the heliostats and optical concentrating device, with Alstom undertaking engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) as well as operation and maintenance over 25 years. Megalim will sell power to the State of Israel at NIS0.79/kWh ($0.23/kWh). Alstom says the Ashalim plant will be built on a 3.15sq km site in the Negev desert, and will generate enough power to meet the needs of 120,000 homes. The design will be similar to that of BrightSource’s 392MW Ivanpah solar CSP project in California. Ivanpah is the world’s largest solar CSP plant. It started up in December 2013 and reached full capacity in February. (CONTINUED - 291 WORDS)
