After years of delays and procrastination, a tender for building Israel's first solar-power plant is to be issued this year.

The 250-megawatt plant will be built on 4,000 dunams (1,000 acres) in the Ashalim complex in the Negev.

In 2001, the cabinet decided that by 2007, 2% of the country's energy production - or some 300 megawatts - would come from alternative-energy sources. To date, only 5 megawatts are being generated by such plants.
 
As part of the electricity reforms, the current cabinet has set an ambitious goal of 10% renewable energy by 2020.

The decision was made by the director general of the National Infrastructures Ministry, Hezi Kugler, the treasury's accountant general, Yaron Zelekha, and the budgets director, Kobi Haber.

The three agreed to establish a an interministerial tenders committee for the "buy, operate and own" (BOO) tender. A private franchisee will be selected to plan, finance, build, operate and maintain the plant.

The first stage of the tender will be published within a few months.