The Israel Electric Company approved a plan to build an 80 megawatts (MW) photovoltaic power plant, which could be the largest in the world upon completion, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post.
Arava Power, a joint venture of Kibbutz Ketura and foreign investors, plans to build the power plant at a cost of about $400 million.
Currently the world’s largest photovoltaic system is a 40 MW array in Germany.
The solar panels will be erected on approximately 370 acres owned by 15 kibbutzim–collective communities traditionally based around agriculture. The land must first be re-zoned for power production use.
The Israel Electric Company said it would take about four years to build a transmission line to connect the photovoltaic field to the national grid.