The state buys solar power at a premium, but also has a limited quota for solar power production – and that quota has been filled through 2020.
By Itai Trilnick

The Energy Ministry could lower its subsidy for solar power if it only were to let companies sell more of it to the national network, five solar power producers asked of minister Uzi Landau on the eve of the Passover holiday.

The state buys solar power at a premium, but also has a limited quota for solar power production – and that quota has been filled through 2020.

The five companies proposed that the government cut their subsidized rate by 17% – which means they would be receiving only 75 agorot per kilowatt-hour for their electricity, instead of the current 90 agorot – but in exchange, they asked that small solar power producers be allowed to sell as much electricity as they could produce. This would apply to installations of up to 50 kilowatts, they proposed.

Currently, following several price increases, consumers buy electricity for 62 agorot per kilowatt-hour. The companies’ proposal would lower the gap between solar power and the public’s electricity rates even further.

If the government approves their plan, then as much as 70 megawatts of solar panels will be installed by next summer, when a power shortage is expected, they said. “It’s better to produce solar power than to buy generators,” wrote Enerpoint CEO Danny Dagan, who sent the letter.

http://www.haaretz.com/business/solar-plants-ask-for-lower-subsidies-higher-power-quotas-1.424274