Lohamei HaGeta'ot

Challenge

Floating solar systems are state-of-the-art. They are becoming increasingly important as an integral part of the energy transition. For the construction of one of Israel’s largest floating PV plants, EDF Renewables chose BELECTRIC Israel. The 19 MWp project was built on a water reservoir for fish farming pools near Lohamei HaGeta'ot, a kibbutz in the north of the country. Executing the large-scale project on nine different pools held multiple challenges. First of all, several elements such as the fish farm, construction works and electricity came together in the project and had to be taken into account concerning safety. Secondly, hurdles had to be overcome in the design phase due to a lack of space for installing the technical equipment. In addition, strict electrical safety standards for fish farms had to be met by finding creative solutions. Last but not least, the construction process proved challenging as well. Works on the nine pools happened in parallel, the water level was very shallow and of course the fishing activities were allowed to proceed in the meantime.

Solution

BELECTRIC Israel allocated resources to meet the unique challenges of this large-scale floating project. Each of the more than 47,700 PV modules was individually mounted on a floating platform and connected to a rapid shut down device to increase electrical safety whilst operating the fishing ponds. The system is connected to the mainland via floating marine grade power lines. The floating platform itself is held in place by an anchoring and mooring system especially designed by BELECTRIC. By widening the banks of the ponds, the team succeeded in finding another creative engineering solution. Overall, BELECTRIC’s customer EDF was involved in every deicision during the design and execution. This tight-knit cooperation was a key to the successful delivery of the project.

Location