The government will discuss the establishment of two power stations in Sharon and Hadera; Likud ministers are opposed

This coming Sunday, the government will discuss the granting of final planning approval for the construction of 2 power stations – the OPC 2 station in Hadera and the Reindir station near Kbar Saba. Their construction plans have been circulating in the planning institutions for years, alongside consistent opposition from residents in their vicinity who are not interested in the construction of a nearby power plant.

These stations have gone through all the planning procedures in the planning institutions and have already been discussed in the past in the government and were not approved, but were sent back for discussion at the Vet. The year 2030. The Israel Defense Forces held a discussion despite this objection, and approved both stations.

The Vatal decision will automatically take effect, unless ministers in the government request to hold another discussion. Opposition to the stations exists among Likud ministers, when the Minister of Energy Eli Cohen requested further discussion. The Minister of Environmental Protection, Idit Silman, also announced her position It is that electricity production with renewable energies should be promoted and planning approvals should not be granted for additional gas power plants. And also the Minister of Transportation Miri Regev Fitzha Letter to the ministers with claims that the establishment of a reindeer station near Kfar Saba will harm planned transportation plans that need the same space station.

Shai Kedem, director of the senior department for transportation planning, announced last Monday his resignation from the Ministry of Transportation. A “thing” came to me his professional opinion, which completely contradicts the claims of the minister in charge. The date stated in the letter is last Wednesday, after he resigned and it is addressed to Avner Flor, head of the Department of Infrastructure Planning and Development at the Ministry of Transportation. According to Kedem, the issue of adapting the power plant to transportation plans was reviewed with Routes Israel in March, and it does not affect road expansion plans or the possibility of a future interchange that will connect to Route 6, and also that it is generally not desirable from a transportation point of view to promote such an interchange.

The person who is known to oppose the power plant is Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, who has influence in the Likud party, but does not respond to inquiries from journalists on the subject. The fear is that the council’s settlements are downwind of the station area, and the pollution resulting from it will reach them. In general, a modern gas power plant produces a low amount of air pollution. However, in situations of security tension, the gas supply is expected to be affected, and the power stations will be operated in an emergency with diesel – a much more expensive and polluting fuel.

The support for planning approvals comes first of all from the Ministry of Finance, as well as from parties in the energy sector such as the Nega Company for the Management of the Electricity System and the Electricity Authority. The first advantage is financial – the more approved programs there are, the more competitive a procedure can be held between the entrepreneurs for their establishment while reducing the availability fee that the owners of the station will receive, during the hours it is not producing.

Another advantage arising from the actual construction of new stations is the possibility to stop or reduce the use of outdated and much more expensive stations, which are less reliable. The third reason is geographical. The increase in demand for electricity in the Gush Dan area is higher than in the rest of Israel. The first priority was to build a new power station instead of Reading, but the implementation of the government’s decisions to close Sde Dov and build a residential neighborhood in its place made the plan to renew Reading impractical, given the short distance between the planned towers and the station chimneys.

Erez Ariav, an environmental activist who opposes the OPC 2 station, wrote a letter to the government secretariat according to the approval of another power station in Hadera, next to the “Orot Rabin” complex of the electric company and the OPC 1 station, contrary to the position of the state’s health and environmental officials, and not needed to provide electricity in the area. “Establishing another power plant in Hadera OPC 2 will prove once again that Hadera and the entire region are the backyard of the State of Israel in regards to national infrastructures and that the residents of Hadera are second-class citizens.”