ISRAEL - Research Institute for Energy Storage
Israel’s Energy Ministry has chosen Bar-Ilan University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to establish a new national research institute for energy storage, the Energy Ministry announced.
The institute’s goal is to push Israel’s energy sector to work in response to national strategic energy challenges, as well as to train future experts in the field and give the industrial sector some new innovative technology made by experts in academia.
In particular, the institute will help work towards reaching Israel’s goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050—a goal established in light of the ongoing climate crisis. This will require a full transition to renewable energy sources, such as solar energy and wind turbines.
“The field of large-scale energy storage is one of the most important challenges for the strong integration of renewable energies,” Energy Ministry chief scientist Dr. Gideon Friedman said in a statement.
“The new energy institute will enable Israel to become a leader in the field, in continuation of the ministry’s additional efforts in the field of storage. For the first time, an institute is being established that will be led by a steering committee comprised of a combination of members of academia, industry and government.”
-www.jpost.com, 3 January 2023
Arno's Commentary
While we are familiar with Israel’s future, we take heed of the developments taking place in our days. The nation, not even a century old, has reached remarkable goals on many different levels in the field of technology. Energy is one of the great issues in our days, partially due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, Israel concerns itself with large-scale energy storage.
Not too long ago, Israel was at the mercy of various countries that would export oil and gas to Israel. That changed in June of 1999, when a large natural gas field was discovered only 40 kilometers off the coast of Ashkelon. In November of last year, the London-based company Energean reported that 13.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas had been discovered. From various additional reports, there seems to be no end in sight for more discoveries. In short, Israel has become energy independent. Natural gas is piped to Jordan and Egypt. Plans are in the works to connect Israel’s natural gas fields to Europe’s pipeline grid.
While we realize these developments are of limited duration, we also know there is no other nation to be compared to Israel. The Lord told Moses to say to Pharaoh, who represents bondage: “…Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn” (Exodus 4:22).
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
