The Israeli government has approved the first-ever national land-use plan dedicated to agrivoltaic installations
The Israeli government has approved the first-ever national land-use plan dedicated to agrivoltaic installations. This decision comes approximately one month after its approval by the National Council for Land Use Planning and Construction. However, despite this official validation, the full document has not yet been made public, and several professionals in the renewable energy sector report not having been able to review it. Agrivoltaic installations combine agricultural production and solar power generation on the same plot of land. The adopted plan notably includes the authorization of pilot projects of various types. Market players hope that this regulatory framework will now encourage local authorities to issue more permits for this type of initiative.
Dorit Bennett, a renewable energy specialist, welcomes this as a significant step forward: according to her, the plan creates a favorable environment by reserving relatively large areas for new experimental projects. She emphasizes, however, that success will depend on considerable flexibility from planning authorities and the agricultural sector, as well as careful monitoring of the results obtained on the ground. Agrivoltaics remains an emerging field. Israel is among the pioneering countries in this area, particularly thanks to trials conducted in the Negev. However, scaling up installations is an unprecedented step. Even though some experiments have yielded promising results, the sector is still in a learning phase.
The major challenge lies in finding the right balance between agricultural yield and energy production. The objective is twofold: to allow crops to benefit from optimal sunlight while making the most of the available light to generate electricity. Achieving this balance is complex. Inadequate design can reduce energy performance or harm crops. Adapting technologies to different types of crops still requires extensive research, even though the potential for innovation and development is considerable. The project has elicited mixed reactions in the agricultural community. Some farmers fear that poorly managed implementation could gradually transform cultivated land into mere energy production fields. For others, it’s an opportunity to diversify their income, strengthen the resilience of their operations, and participate in the energy transition.
The Ministry of Energy specifies that the program establishes uniform design standards to guarantee the robustness and reliability of the facilities, an essential condition for their large-scale deployment. One structural challenge remains: the state of the Israeli electricity grid. Since the 1990s, infrastructure development has not always kept pace with population growth, partly due to past disagreements between the Ministry of Finance and the Electricity Company prior to the sector’s reform. This situation complicates the connection of new generation capacity to the grid, particularly when it is located far from major urban centers. Although significant investments have recently been made to modernize the infrastructure, these constraints could slow the plan’s implementation.
Yossi Dayan, Director General of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, describes the government’s approval as a decisive step in the national energy strategy. According to him, agrivoltaics offers a smart solution for increasing the share of renewable energy while maintaining agricultural activity. He believes this technology is a key lever for achieving the 2030 targets and strengthening the country’s long-term resilience. Rafi Elmaleh, Director General of the Planning Authority, emphasizes that this initiative is part of a comprehensive vision for optimizing land use. Faced with climate challenges and rising energy needs, agrivoltaics would help preserve natural spaces by preventing their exclusive conversion into energy infrastructure. He explains that this national plan is part of a broader process of developing regional plans, which will study, for each territory, the energy solutions best suited to its specific characteristics and needs.
