Israel opens largest solar plant with Chinese help

The northern Israeli town of Katsrin this week connected the country's largest solar power station to the electric grid.

The 50-kilowatt rooftop installation came as part of the partnership between China and Israel to develop renewable energy.

Wuxi, China-based Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE: STP), the world's biggest module manufacturer, co-built the solar plant with Ramat Gan, Israel-based Solarit Doral, a developer of residential and commercial solar projects.

The installation is expected to generate 85,000 kilowatt-hours a year.

Israel has established feed-in tariffs for renewable energy projects to meet its goal of 20 percent of electricity through renewable sources by 2020. 

Israel's Public Utilities Authority recently agreed to buy electricity at NIS 2.01 ($0.53 USD) per kilowatt hour from individuals and companies installing solar arrays on roofs—four times the going price of electricity for consumers (see Sunday Solar powers Israeli kibbutzim).

Suntech officials said the company is planning to work with a partner to build a larger solar power plant in southern Israel.

Suntech also announced this week plans to exclusively license the solar roof-tile intellectual property of Solana Beach, Calif.-based Open Energy (OTC: OEGY). Suntech plans to manufacture, distribute and market the SolarSave line of 50-watt, 4-foot solar roof tiles.

In October, Open Energy said it closed $4.7 million in financing with the Quercus Trust (see Iceland takes a hit).