Water and Energy Minister Uzi Landau said Monday that he was confident that Israel will be able to meet its alternative energy goals. The government wants to be able to use alternative energy sources to produce 10% of all of Israel's power needs. Landau spoke at a ceremony marking the end of the Ashalim Tender – a bid for construction of a photovoltaic power plant in the western Negev community of Ashalim. Sun Ashalim PV won the tender. The power station is meant to become operational in 2015. The Ashalim station will produce 30 megawatts of electricity – less than one-third a percent of Israel's power needs. Other power stations slated to be built in the area will produce 220 megawatts of electricity – about 2% of Israel's overall needs. But according to Landau "there are additional power stations in the works." "This may be a small step," the minister noted, "But it's a very important one. The results of this tender will affect similar bids in the market. "Setting such a power station up is not a simple thing, but at this point, it's up to the contracture, with the government acting as the regulator," he said. Sun Edison Israel, Sun Ashalim PV's parent company said in a statement that "Solar energy is cheaper and available in abundance in Israel. It's time for Israel to pursue solar energy with earnest and set up similar power plants nationwide." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter