The Israeli government has decided to reduce the share of coal use at the power plants operated by the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) from 30% in 2019 to 24.9% by the end of 2020. The objective is to reduce power plant-related air pollution by 20%. To reach this target, four of the six coal-fired units at the Orot Rabin power plant in Hadera will be temporarily shut down (before being permanently closed by 2022) and units at the Ashkelon power plants will be converted to gas by 2025.
As of June 2020, Israel’s coal-fired capacity stood at 4.8 GW, accounting for 27% of its total installed capacity. In 2015, the Ministry of Energy declared a 15% reduction in coal consumption for power generation and ordered to reduce coal-fired power generation to a minimum in 2016. In 2017, the Policy 2030 focused on reducing polluting fuels by 2030 and considered coal exit. In November 2019, Israel decided to phase out coal-fired capacity by the end of 2025, instead of a previous objective to stop coal-fired power generation by 2030. To do so, the government plans to close four 365 MW units at the Orot Rabin power station in Hadera by 2022 and to convert the remaining two 575 MW MW units to gas. In addition, one unit at the 2,250 MW Rutemberg power plant in Ashkelon will be closed by 2022, and the other 3 units will be converted to gas.
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