At last someone is taking solar power seriously. Stirling Energy Systems will be constructing a farm of 12 metre curved dishes focusing on Stirling engines. Regretfully, it will be in California, not here in Israel. They have a pilot plant running that generates 1 MegaWatt. They plan a 500 acre (800 hectares) plant generating 500 MW. A swift calculation follows.
Israel currently has around 10,000 MW of generating capacity all powered by fossil fuels, primarily coal. The 500 MW plant Stirling Energy plan to build takes up around 800 hectares. Israel would need 20 such farms then around 0.6% of Israel (I assume in the Negev) would be needed. A much better project than building settlements in the West bank. No more coal imports and Israel could meet its Kyoto targets easily . Of course, as Israel refused to sign up, the point is moot.
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