The Electricity Authority of Israel has introduced a tariff for solar PV systems that are distributed and use energy storage in order to manage grid demand.
The country aims to reach 30% renewable energy in the network by 2030 but struggled to meet its previous 10% target by 2020. The Electricity Authority, the regulatory body for the industry, acknowledged that the inability to plan and develop electricity networks at a pace and scope sufficient to achieve this progress was a major barrier.
The new tariff will encourage the use of energy storage so that solar power can be moved to low-demand hours at night.
This applies to solar power generation systems that are used for self-consumption on site and surplus power fed into the grid. The solar PV and energy storage systems that share one metered grid connection point will be eligible.
The supplementary tariff increases the amount of renewable electricity used on the grid, without the need to add new grid connections.
According to previous modelling by PUA, Israel would need approximately 2GW/8GWh energy storage in order to support the integration of 30% renewable energy into the grid. This is equivalent to about 12GW of solar PV. In the past, the authority hosted a couple of solar-plus storage tenders. One of these rounds awarded contracts for 777MW PV and 3,072MWh battery storage.
