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Israel plans solar farms along Gaza border
27 Sep, 2023 15:46
Dean Shmuel Elmas
The solar farm will extend over 3,500-4,250 acres up to a distance of about 500 meters from the Gaza border fence.
As the security situation between Israel and Gaza escalates, the National Infrastructures Committee has toured the border area to promote plans for a national solar farm project. The project will be on "lost" land near the border, which is targeted by incendiary balloons and leaves farmers lethally vulnerable to the conflict and is only occasionally used for marginal crops such as wheat and potatoes.
The estimated cost of the project, at a total investment, including storage, is expected to be about NIS 4 billion. The solar farm will extend over 14,000-17,000 dunams (3,500-4,250 acres) up to a distance of about 500 meters from the Gaza border fence. The electricity production potential is estimated at about two gigawatts (about 2,000 megawatts), which constitutes about 15% of Israel's electricity production capacity. This is a national flagship program that is expected to be implemented in the near future along the Gaza border and later, to be copied along Israel's other borders.
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The state has a deep commitment to the project both through the National Infrastructure Commission and the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, which finances the planning. Ministry officials participated in the tour yesterday with representatives of the regional councils, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Defense, the Nature and Parks Authority, and the Aviv planning company. The national solar project is still in the early stages, but renewable energy companies are already looking to participate in it, as soon as the establishment phase begins.
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https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-israel-plans-solar-farms-along-gaza-border-1001458821
Jul 1, 2022 - Economy
Scoop: Jared Kushner signs his first big private equity deal
Affinity Partners, the private equity firm formed last year by former President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, has agreed to invest in Mosaic, an Oakland, Calif.-based fintech company that provides loans for residential solar installations, Axios has learned from multiple sources.
Why it matters: This would be the first major deal for Affinity, which has raised more than $3 billion for its debut fund.
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Affinity's fund, which hasn't yet held a final close, is primarily backed by sovereign wealth funds of Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia. The WSJ recently reported that it has the ability to invest that money in Israeli companies, which is the first such known arrangement.
Expect to see some Israeli deals soon for Affinity, which also is being investigated by House Democrats for potential conflicts of interest regarding its Saudi ties.
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https://www.axios.com/2022/07/01/jared-kushner-affinity-partners-mosaic-solar
Mosaic Inc.
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2024 Minnesota Lawsuit Controversy
On March 8, 2024 the Minnesota Attorney General filed suit against Mosaic and three other lending companies (GoodLeap, Sunlight Financial, and Dividend Solar Finance—a subsidiary of Fifth Third Bank), following an investigation that uncovered they charged Minnesotans $35 million in hidden fees on nearly 5000 loans to finance sales of residential solar panels. The lawsuit alleges the lenders violated Minnesota state laws against deceptive trade practices, deceptive lending, and illegally high rates of interest.[19]
The suit alleges the “Defendants deceive consumers by charging a hidden and costly upfront fee that they add into the stated price of each financed system while falsely telling consumers that the inflated price only reflects the system’s cost rather than financing.” “The fees vary depending on the loan but are usually between 10 percent and 30 percent of the stated total price of the system.” “Defendants do not allow sales companies to identify such fees in sales proposals and do not calculate such fees in advertised APRs or otherwise disclose the fees as finance charges. Instead, Defendants require Minnesota solar companies to hide the fee in the stated price of the financed system. This means that the upfront fee inflates the original principal amount of the loan, even though Defendants and their partner Minnesota solar companies tell consumers that the stated price is disbursed to the solar company to pay for hardware and installation of the solar-panel system and not financing.”[20]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_Inc.
Gaza's Solar Power in Wartime
In the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 attack, the Israeli energy minister vowed “no electric switch will be turned on, no water tap will be opened, and no fuel truck will enter [Gaza] until the Israeli abductees are home.” Gaza is heavily reliant on Israel for the delivery of both electricity and diesel expressly for electricity generation, and it is experiencing widespread power outages as a result of Israel’s blockade.
In recent years, Palestinians and international actors have sought to enhance the resilience of Gaza’s electricity sector. In fact, they have installed so much solar energy for critical infrastructure, businesses, and domestic usage that the authors estimate that Gaza likely now has the highest density of rooftop solar systems in the world. Renewable electricity provides more reliable power to Gaza than is otherwise available, and it is not subject to the politicization of fuel and energy exports from Israel.
The current conflict has taken its toll, however. Israel has argued that electricity can be diverted from civilian to military purposes, and it has destroyed a significant proportion of Gaza’s burgeoning solar infrastructure during the current war. Still, solar power has provided a lifeline for Gazans when all other electricity infrastructure has failed. Gaza demonstrates both the potential of solar power in conflict-affected environments and its limitations.
Gaza’s Electricity Sector
Prior to the outbreak of war on October 7, Israel directly or indirectly supplied most of Gaza’s electricity. About half came through 10 Israeli power lines, supplying 120 megawatts (MW). While Israel charges the Palestinian Authority (PA) for this, the PA often has refused to pay, and Israel periodically has erased the debt. Gaza also had a single diesel power plant that generated an additional 65–75 MW, with fuel purchased from Israel and financed by Qatar.
The arrangement did not always work smoothly. In recent years, Israel blocked deliveries of fuel for Gaza’s power plant in August 2020, May 2021, and August 2022. Israeli strikes during past escalations also damaged electricity infrastructure, and Hamas was slow to repair it. Even in normal times, electricity demand far exceeded supply, and most Gazans reportedly only received power from the grid for six to eight hours per day.
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https://www.csis.org/analysis/gazas-solar-power-wartime
Newsweek - Jared Kushner's New Foreign Deals Spark 'Corruption' Accusation
March 16, 2024 • In The News
Jared Kushner was accused of "corruption" by Representative Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, after news broke of Kushner's new foreign real estate deals.
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The deals would be made through Kushner's investment firm, Affinity Partners, which he started after he left the White House. The firm received $2 billion from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). However, his company told the newspaper it has not yet determined if Saudi funds for the project would be used.
Kushner told the Times that he worked on the new deals with Richard Grenell, who served as acting director of national intelligence in Trump's cabinet from February 2020 to May 2020.
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Garcia wrote on X on Friday: "Jared Kushner is back to brokering major deals with foreign governments per new reports today. We've already exposed his $2 billion investment fund with the Saudis, and we are pushing hard to ensure this grift gets the attention it demands. This is real corruption."
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Meanwhile, Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, which tracked business deals it considered conflicts of interest during Trump's presidency, told the Times, "At this point in the election cycle Jared Kushner should freeze any new investment plans."
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https://robertgarcia.house.gov/media/in-the-news/newsweek-jared-kushners-new-foreign-deals-spark-corruption-accusation
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