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Wind Power News: Israel
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Israeli wind farm project unites Jewish settlers, Golan Druze
Emil Masud is an Arab Druze who identifies as “forever Syrian,” and Ofer Megged is an Israeli settler in the contested Golan Heights. They might seem unlikely partners, but a fight to save the environment against Israeli big business has thrust Masud, a local farmer, and Megged, a physics professor, into a burgeoning alliance that is shifting mutual perceptions between the Golan’s Druze and Jews. “Our lands will be destroyed,” Masud told Al-Monitor at his family home in Majdal Shams. . . . Complete story »
Syrians strike in protest against Israel wind turbines
Syrians in the occupied Golan Heights held a general strike yesterday to protest against the construction of an Israeli wind turbine project in the area, Arab48 reported. The Syrians gathered in Al-Yaafouri Square near the village of Majdal Shams to express their anger against the Israeli project which exploits the Arab lands. According to the Arabi Observatory of Human Rights in the Golan Heights, the Israeli occupation is planning to raise its electricity production from 27 megawatts to 730 megawatts . . . Complete story »
Syrian farmers in Golan Heights fear loss of livelihoods, ‘cultural life’ from Israeli wind farm plans
MARJ YAAFOURI, Israeli-occupied Golan Heights: Just downhill from the occupied Syrian villages of Majdal Shams and Masaada, there is a small valley filled with plots of cherry and apple trees. A handful of the orchards reach upwards along the terraced hills that outline the Marj Yaafouri valley, overlooking the trees and a Druze shrine down below. They are owned by local Syrian farmers. Some of the farmers have been tending to these fields, in a spot known locally as Marj . . . Complete story »
Israeli environmental organization petitions against wind turbine project
Israeli environmental nonprofit Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) has filed a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court against a planned wind turbine project in the Golan Heights, Enlight Renewable Energy Ltd., the company behind the project, stated in a filing to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Saturday. In its petition, SPNI claimed the planned project failed to include measures to protect birds from harm. Enlight stated it believes the petition will most likely be dismissed. SPNI has . . . Complete story »
Security officials oppose new Golan wind turbine project
The IDF and security officials in the Golan have expressed their opposition to a project that would see the construction of 42 wind turbines for the generation of electricity. The report on Army Radio said that the project would generate enough electricity to power 60,000 homes. The project has been in the works since 2011, and was given its final approval by all the relevant committees last month. The 42 turbines are 85 meters high, and required approval from a . . . Complete story »
Golan wind turbine project may be shelved over objections of Israel Air Force
The Defense Ministry is threatening to withdraw its support for a plan to generate electricity on the Golan Heights using wind turbines. This is because no budget has yet been found for the technological solutions the Defense Ministry says are necessary to prevent the turbines from interfering with Israeli Air Force operations in the area. Without the support of the Defense Ministry, it is very likely that the turbine plan will not be approved. Four different projects for building wind . . . Complete story »
Wind turbines in Israel kill many more birds, bats than expected
Wind turbines cause significant damage to bird and bat life in Israel, beyond the level deemed tolerable by nature authorities. The Parks and Nature Authority is mulling measures it will ask turbine owners to employ in order to reduce the damage. Leaving aside 25—year old wind farm in the Golan Heights, there are two more modern wind turbine installations near Ma’aleh Gilboa and Ramat Sirin in northern Israel, which generate electricity. They are run by the Afcon business group in . . . Complete story »
Tech solution mooted for wind turbines’ threat to Golan vultures
The developers of a large wind turbine project for electricity production on the Golan Heights are proposing the use of a system that will identify oncoming birds of prey and silence the turbines as they approach to prevent harming them. This offer is aimed at reducing the concerns of environmentalists about the possibility that birds will be hit by turbine blades. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority, however, is not convinced that this solution will prevent harm and continues to . . . Complete story »
Israel cancels wind turbines project to spare a rare falcon
A project to erect nine wind turbines near Kibbutz Ein HaShofet in northern Israel, about 18 miles from the city of Haifa, in an ecologically sensitive area where the rare red falcons live, have been cancelled by the District Committee over the exceptional and disproportionate damage it would cause the environment, Haaretz reported Sunday. Or, in conceptual terms, an environmentally friendly program was killed on account of endangering the environment. The committee heard testimony last week that the rotating blades . . . Complete story »
Galilee residents fear wind farms will dwarf landscape
Power plants and renewable energy farms are replacing agriculture throughout Israel. In recent decades, awareness has been growing, including in Israel, of the importance of switching to renewable energy produced from solar radiation, wind, water, and other non-fuel and non-perishable natural resources. Israel stands with the other OECD countries that have made this an important goal. It requires a great deal of area for new facilities, however, most of which are located in the outlying areas, and a wave of . . . Complete story »
