Dr. Maher Mohamad Abdel Fatah AL-Maghalseh

The proposed project comes as a partial solution to Palestinian dependency on foreign imports of electricity. Palestine lacks any measurable source of energy such as gas or oil except for solar energy. Furthermore, Palestine’s current demand for electricity amounts to 1 MW and expects to grow by 7% over next 10 years. The deficit which amounted to 98% in 2015 was mostly met by imports from Israel 95%. This situation if continues has its drawback: Dependency on foreign source, which is not totally reliable, has a direct effect on the Palestinian balance of payments and Gross National Product (GNP), as well as aggravating the financial situation of the government, which is in direct need for cash. The construction of this project creates job opportunities for skilled and semi-skilled labors, this project will create 19 job opportunities. It will raise the technical, administrative and environmental capacities of the Palestinians in general in the field of biogas and will be as a reference point in the assessment of this sector in the local market in the future. Furthermore, reducing foreign dependency on electricity supply; added to that, it will represent a drive towards green environment which benefits health, the economy and the environment at large.

The project is constructed near Dahrya city south of Hebron in the West Bank, on an area of land of 40,000 m². 5000 m² of the land is used for the project and the rest for Cow farming. The project size is up to 1 MWh and the first stage was finished with the capacity of 380 kWh. The annual specific power production for the first stage is around 6,509,450 KWh/year. However, the total project cost is about $1,820,000. The payback period of the project is estimated to be around 9 years and Rate of Return (IRR) is estimated to be about 15%.