Israel's First Bio-Waste Power Facility

Blue Sphere Corp., a Wall Street OTC market-traded US company and the Environmental Services Company (ESC) will work together to establish a biogas facility to generate electricity from organic waste, primarily food leftovers. The facility will be built at the Neot Hovav Eco Industrial Park in the Negev, at an investment of NIS 100 million, and is expected to produce 5 megawatts of electricity and process more than one hundred thousand tons of organic waste per year.

This project is the first of its kind in Israel, and a first step in the Israeli government and Environmental Services Company's initiative to close the gap between Israel and other OECD countries in matters of waste recycling and the production of "green" energy.

The waste-treatment process at the facility will significantly reduce the annual volume of landfill waste, and will thus prevent soil contamination caused by the landfill process. The process will also make possible the production of clean energy as an alternative to oil and diesel, which are more expensive and more polluting materials.

According to the regulation for the production of energy from waste, the project will be eligible for a license to produce and provide electricity for Israel Electric Corporation. The license is for a 20-year period, and the Israel Electric Corporation will commit to buy the electricity that Blue Sphere produces.

Blue Sphere Corporation deals in development, management, and operation of projects to produce electricity from waste around the world, and manufactures biogas from organic waste. The Environmental Services Company is a government company, founded in 1990, which specializes in environmental projects including the biological treatment of contaminated soil and land rehabilitation.

Source: Globes