Arava Power Company
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| Industry | Solar fields |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 |
| Founder | Yosef Abramowitz, David Rosenblatt, Ketura |
| Headquarters | Arava, Negev, Ketura, Israel |
| Website | www.aravapower.com |
Arava Power Company (APC) is a solar energy company founded in 2006 on Ketura in the Arava Valley. On June 5, 2011, APC inaugurated Israel’s first medium sized solar field, Ketura Sun. The field stretches over 80 dunams (8 hectares or 20 acres) of land and has an installed power of 4.95MW. As Arava Power is an environmentally conscious company, it installs solar fields only on land zoned solely for agricultural or industrial use.
In the Ketura Sun project, photovoltaic (PV) solar panel from Suntech company were used, in collaboration with Siemens Israel. Arava`s mission is to supply Israel with 10% of its energy needs through clean, renewable solar energy.
Arava Power Company cites Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, as an inspiring figure for the vision of the company. In 1956, Ben Gurion said: "The largest and most impressive source of energy in our world and the source of life for every plant and animal, yet a source so little used by mankind today is the sun... Solar energy will continue to flow toward us almost indefinitely."
In August 2008, Siemens Project Ventures invested $15 Million in the Arava Power Company. In a press release published that month, Peter Löscher, President and CEO of Siemens AG said: “This investment is another consequential step in further strengthening our green and sustainable technologies”. Siemens now holds a 40% stake in the company.
On November 21, 2010, the Minister of National Infrastructure, Uzi Landau, signed a Power Purchase Agreement with Ketura Sun Company (owned by Arava Power Company) worth an estimated 250 Million NIS. The agreement is valid for twenty years and guarantees that the energy produced at Ketura Sun will be transferred to the Israel Electric Corporation’s power lines. It is the first PPA in Israel with a solar energy company.
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