David Ben-Gurion dreamed of a country powered by the sun. Today, Israel's solar power visionaries are struggling to make his dream come true.

While Haj Mousa Tarabin moves about with a smile seemingly glued to his face, he cannot help but feel slighted as he battles continuous impediments to establishing his 8-megawatt solar field.
"I believe that there is nothing that will stand before desire, and I believe that there will be a project in the end," leader says.

[Ambassador Shapiro] praised Arava Power Company and its leaders as being great pioneers of solar energy, bringing renewable technology to the market in an affordable way and becoming a catalyst of change. "We consider Arava Power Company an American-Israeli product," he said. "I know that every day this field is working, generating real output."

Israel has a solar capacity - the amount of energy it could continuously generate in ideal conditions - of 212 megawatts, most of which comes from rooftop installations, according to the electric company. That accounts for less than 2 percent of the nationwide capacity and falls well short of the country's 2014 goal of 1,480 megawatts from solar sources.

CNN television will feature Yosef Abramowitz, co-founder and president of the Israel-based Arava Power Company, on one of its Green Pioneers broadcasts this coming week. The program features six individuals guiding environmental projects in various countries, Arava Power announced this week.

Abramowitz, 48, is a founder of the Arava Power Company at Kibbutz Ketura, which is home to a 4.95-megawatt, medium-sized photovoltaic field. He made aliyah from the Boston area in 2006; Abramowitz had volunteered on the kibbutz 30 years earlier.

Arava Power president hopes solar energy work makes Israel "renewable light unto the nations".

Arava Power President Yosef Abramowitz has helped create the Middle East's first commercial solar power on an Israeli kibbutz.

The Israeli solar company said the transaction represents the largest of its kind to date in the country. The first deal, worth NIS 460 million (around 94.4 million euro; US$120.5 million) was closed with Noy Fund and financers Migdal Insurance Company, Bank Hapoalim and Amitim for five photovoltaic projects totaling 35 MW. Construction on the projects, to be located in the Negev Desert, is expected to begin "within a few months". Siemens Israel has been named as EPC contractor.

Arava Power's chief executive, Jon Cohen, said Tuesday the installations, to be built in the Negev desert, are "another step toward energy independence for Israel and a greener future for generations to come."

An Israeli solar company says it has raised more than $200 million to build eight solar energy fields in the country's southern desert. Arava Power Co. says the deal is by far the biggest ever in Israel's solar power industry.

Arava Power Co., an Israeli renewable-energy developer, obtained financing for eight solar power projects valued at 780 million shekels ($204 million).

Israel's Arava Power said on Tuesday it secured 780 million shekels ($204 million) in funding to build eight medium-sized solar energy fields - the largest financial closing in the country's solar power industry.

Company secures largest ever funding for solar power in Israeli history for 58 megawatts and NIS 800 m. of new projects.

After more than five years of political and regulatory battles with the Israeli authorities, Arava Power Company has transformed 20 acres of a sand-colored field on the edge of the communal farm. It now glistens with neat rows of photovoltaic panels from China - 18,600 in all - that harness the sun. There is no smoke, only a slight buzz in the spotless rooms where the panels current is turned into electricity that can be fed into the electrical grid. Small openings in the perimeter fence allow animals to cross the field.

Arava Power Company inks provisional license for large Negev-based photovoltaic solar field.

On March 12th, 2012 the Public Utility Authority of Israel granted a provisional license to Arava Power Company Ltd. (Ketura, Israel) to build a 40 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant 50 km north of Eilat in Israel's Arava Valley.

Am 12.03.2012 erteilte die ֳ¶ffentliche Versorgungsbehֳ¶rde Israels der Arava Power Company Ltd. (Ketura, Israel) die vorlֳ₪ufige Genehmigung zum Bau eines Photovoltaik-Kraftwerks mit 40 Megawatt Nennleistung. Die Solarstromanlage soll 50 Kilometer nֳ¶rdlich von Elitat im israelischen Aravatal gebaut werden.

Arava Power announced it had received a licence to build a 40MW plant near Eilat. That will take an investment of $US150 million and should be completed in 2014. Arava has led the fairly stunted growth of PV in Israel with the 5MW Ketura Sun project next door.

Photovoltaic activity in Israel is heating up: Arava Power Company has unveiled its US$150 million project plans; and Suntech discusses upcoming policy changes, which may result in higher photovoltaic quotas, and provides updates on its Israeli activities, including project pipelines and the market pullout of one of its modules.

Israel's Public Utility Authority has granted a license for the country's largest solar energy field to go online.
The provisional license was granted Monday to the Arava Power Company for the field at Kibbutz Ketura, located about 16 miles north of Eilat.

Israel's Arava Power said on Tuesday it had received a provisional licence to build a large solar field in the Negev desert that will supply power to the Red Sea resort city of Eilat.
Arava said the field, with an investment of $150 million, should be completed in 2014 and have a capacity of 40 megawatts - one third of the electricity consumption of Eilat during daylight hours.

Public Utility Authority approves 9 licenses for fields; Arava Power confident it will complete first field by 2014.

Arava Power Company's application was approved last night by Israel's Public Utility Authority for their 40 MW, $150 million photovoltaic solar farm at Kibbutz Ketura, just north of the tourist destination city of Eilat in Israel's Arava Valley.

The majority of Israel's Bedouins live in the scorchingly hot Negev desert, and now they are starting to harness the power of the sun to make money. Israel's Public Utility Authority has just granted a license for the first Bedouin solar field, which will be built over the next year in the village of the Tarabin clan, in the north-west Negev.

One week after Energy and Water Resources Minister Uzi Landau predicted a summer full of power outages, two Anglos who are spearheading alternative energy initiatives in Israel.

The Bedouin population in Israel's South celebrated a historical green victory earlier this month after being granted a license for a photovoltaic installation adjacent to the Tarabin community in the Abu Basma Regional Council. This is the first license that has been awarded in Israel for a solar project involving the Bedouin community.

Negev's Bedouin community marks milestone as Arava Power Company approves quota for solar energy production

The first-ever license for a solar project has been awarded this week to Israel's bedouin community by Israel's Public Utility Authority. Yosef Abramowitz of Arava Power Company promoted and led the solar project, to make a solar energy dream come true for Bedouin living in the Israel's Negev desert.

The $30 million field will encompass 15 hectares (37 acres) and will be developed by Arava Power Company, the firm responsible for opening the country's first medium-sized solar field in Kibbutz Ketura in June. Arava Power signed a contract with the Tarabin family a year-and-a-half ago, and 80 percent of the money for the project is slated to come from OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation), an independent United States government agency.

The traditionally semi-nomadic communities residing in southern Israel's Negev desert have been the subject of disputes involving land, poverty and access for some time. A wave of initiatives to encourage villages to gain official recognition status, in order to profit from covering privately owned land with ground-mounted photovoltaic systems, is providing one method of aiding negotiations, despite the thorny social issues that come with them.

Siemens Israel CEO Eliezer Tokman said that the construction of the solar field and the planning for Arava Power's future fields have already created local expertise. "Although we were late in getting started, we've built here a world-class center. Our people have been asked to carry out projects for Siemens companies in other countries."

American Yossi Abramowitz, Kibbutz Ketura member Ed Hofland, and their US-based partner David Rosenblatt have built Ketura Sun, Israel's first commercial solar energy field. On these twenty acres of land in the Negev desert, 18,500 photo-voltaic plates convert the sun's energy into electricity. Only 1% of Israel's electricity currently comes from renewable energy sources, but entrepreneurs like Abramowitz hope to change that.

Arava Power's President, Yosef Abramowitz, is named one of the Middle East's Eco Heroes of 2011.

The Noy Infrastructure Fund, run by Pinchas Cohen, has signed an agreement to acquire 36% of a solar energy field at Kibbutz Ketura from Arava Power Company for NIS 15 million. The acquisition reflects a value of NIS 41 million for the solar energy station, which generates 5 megawatts.

The Top Environment story of 2011, according to JPost reader votes.

Arava Power in Israel is fighting so Bedouin get a fair share of feed-in tariffs in Israel. Backed by Siemens Arava stands to benefit too.

Arava Power is working with Southern Israel's Bedouin community to capture a share of the burgeoning solar power market.

Israeli solar energy group gets license following successful interconnection of 4.95 megawatt Ketura sun field to national grid by Israel Electric Corporation

Officially launched last June, the 4.95-megawatt, NIS 80 million Ketura Sun field stands on an 80- dunam piece of land.

Israel could reduce its dependence on gas from Egypt, said David Rosenblatt, the vice chairman and co-founder of the Arava Power Company. "There are almost 2,000 megawatts of solar licenses stuck with the Israeli electricity regulator," he told JTA. "If those solar licenses were granted immediately, Israel could substantially reduce the sting of the expected dramatic raise of Egyptian natural gas prices."

In honor of the New Year, the 10 most influential members of the English-speaking immigrant community, people who stood out in 5771 and made a difference - including Arava Power's President and Co-Founder Yosef Abramowitz.

On September 11th, 2011, the Israeli Ministry of Interior approved a plan for an 8 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant adjacent to the Bedouin community of Tarabin in Israel's Negev Desert.

Bedouin minority to get first solar field
Interior Ministry's Southern Regional Planning and Building Committee approves plan for photovoltaic solar installation adjacent to community of Tarabin

Israel's Interior Ministry has approved a plan for a photovoltaic solar installation adjacent to the Bedouin community of Tarabin, in the Abu Basma Regional Council.

New photovoltaic field will offer improved economic opportunities to Beduin population.

Permits issued to 40,000 square meters of roof space for photovoltaic operations in private, public, commercial, residential areas.

Filmed at their headquarters at the Ketura Sun solar field at Kibbutz Ketura, 50 km. north of Eilat. the video uses some loving couples to highlight that electricity bills would be lower if government decided to allow the building of additional solar facilities more quickly.

Solar energy firm Arava Power Company found an interesting way to complain about Netanyahu's policies by making a music video. The video features people lip-synching to Stevie Wonder's "You are the Sunshine of My Life" and dancing in a solar field, while messages like "solar power is the power of the people" pop up on the screen.

Tu B'av is the Jewish love fest, so what better time to promote hooking up? To solar energy, that is.