Warning: Israel may face power shortage
Israel Electric chairman says unless government steps up, agrees to fund costs of company's emergency contingency plan, future demand may exceed supply to point of lengthy blackouts
Whether or not Israel will have electricity in 2009 is up to the government, says Chairman of Israel Electric Moti Friedman, as the company awaits a Finance Ministry decision on its emergency contingency plan.
Israel Electric has been building power plants across Israel for over 80 years, with the funding for the construction projects obtained through consumer fees, various investments and loans.
According to a Thursday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, the company, which has found itself in somewhat of an intricate financial state in the past few years, has suspended most of it construction projects, due to liquidity difficulties.
The past few years have also seen the government attempt to apply several reforms in Israel Electric – with little success so far – and combined with several slow-manifesting bids for the construction of privately own power plants, the company is now warning against a power shortage which may hit Israel in the near future.
According to the company's data, power demands in the next three years may exceed the stations' supply capacity, to the point of causing lengthy blackouts.
Israel Electric CEO Amos Lasker prepared an emergency contingency plan – which calls for two new power plants to be built in Ramat Hovav, a second plant to be built in Ashdod and a new power plant to be built in Elyakim Junction – but the board of directors refused to give it the thumbs up, since it required the company to take out several new loans.
According to Friedman, it is up to the government to fund the plan. "The Treasury must give us auxiliary funding. The board of directors has already decided that without a certain source of funding it would not back the project," he explains.
"As far as the operational aspects are concerned the company meets all the criteria. It's down to the question of funding. The Treasury can make a variety of decision, from power rates and investing State capital, to a government-owned power station.
"I am confident that Israel Electric, with Lasker leading it, can rise to the operational challenge," added Friedman, "but whether or not Israel will have electricity in 2009 is really up to the government."
