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Solar Israel Land Development
Solar Israel Land Development
Land Development |
The main challenge facing the implementation of medium and large scale solar projects in Israel is land availability. Israel spans over approximately 22,000 KM2, of which about 5% is area covered with buildings. Yet, there are two main impediments in the path to build a land mounted solar project – ownership and zoning. Ownership93% of the land in Israel is owned by the government. In the south of Israel almost 100% of the land is owned by the government. The government – through Israel’s Land Administration (“ILA”), the entity responsible for managing the land owned by the government – only leases land lots and never sells them. In general, the government is required by law to lease land only through a tender process. So far the ILA has not published any tenders for these purposes.As result of this situation, the most available (and almost exclusive right now) path to get rights in land suitable for medium size PV projects is by sub-leasing lots from a Kibutz or a village. These communities have existing long-term leases of relatively large areas of land, mostly for agriculture purposes. The ILA recently decided that these communities will be allowed to sub-lease certain parts of such areas for the purposes of solar projects. ZoningIn general, before erecting any building or fixture on any land in Israel, one must get a building permit. Usually, such permit is issued by the Local Zoning Committee. However, the Local Zoning Committee can issue a building permit only if the zoning purpose of the land, as specified in a zoning plan, allows such a building. For example, the Local Zoning Committee cannot issue a building permit on a lot of land that is purposed for agriculture. In such a case, the purpose of the land needs to be changed before building permits can be issued. The authority to change the purpose of lands is vested with the District Zoning Committee and often it may also involve the national zoning authorities.In the beginning of January 2010, the National Zoning Committee, the highest zoning authority, decided to form a national zoning plan that will specify where and to extent solar projects can be erected. The national zoning plan is expected to allow deploying solar projects on almost every roof, without regard to the size of the project (until then only projects of up to 50KWp could get a permit). The plan will also allow erecting solar projects on lots which are purposed for industrial buildings subject to certain quantitative limitations per area. Re-zoning of agriculture lots for the purpose of solar projects will also be allowed under certain terms and subject to quantitative limitations per Kibbutz or village. Re-zoning of agricultural land will be easier in the southern part of the country and for lots that are adjacent to a village. The authority of re-zoning agriculture land is vested with the regional zoning committee, but the plan will call for the establishment of a special sub-committee for the southern part of the country, which will help expedite this otherwise lengthy process. The national zoning plan is expected to be published by the end of June 2010. Until then it seems that it will not be possible, or at least difficult, to obtain a construction permit for a solar project on agriculture or even industrial lots. |
