The new firm can build a natural gas-driven plant by 2013.
The government is not waiting for Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) to agree to its restructuring, and is setting up a second government electricity utility.
Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler said on Friday that the Ministries of Finance and National Infrastructures are expected to allow the new power company to build a 400-megawatt natural gas-driven plant by 2013 at a cost of $300-400 million.
Speaking at a conference of the Society of Electricity and Electronics Engineers in Israel, Kugler said that the Ministry of National Infrastructures supports the new electricity company building a second power station as well because of the delay in the entry of private power companies into the market. "I'm beginning to doubt the possibility of private power companies' ability to generate 1,800 megawatts needed in the coming years. There are difficult bureaucratic problems, as well as a shortage of natural gas. We've decided in principle to give one power plant to the new government electricity company by 2013, and possibly another plant as well," he said.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 22, 2009
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