Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, Chairman of PIF Board of Directors updated Mr. David Malpass, President of World Bank Group, on the progress made under the Solar Energy program for electricity generation that PIF is implementing in partnership with the Ministry of Education on rooftops of public schools.

This came during a visit to Jericho Basic Girls’ School, one of the beneficiary schools from the program that aims to generate 35MW of electricity, i.e. the equivalent of consumption of 16,000 households, by installing solar panels on rooftops of 500 public schools with an overall investment of US$35 million dollars.

The program is one of the components of Nour Palestine Program for Solar Energy launched by PIF with the objective of generating approximately 200 MW of electricity. In addition to the school rooftops project, the Program includes the construction of Solar PV Plants, two of which have already been constructed: the Nour Jericho plant in Nuweimeh in the Jericho and Jordan Valley governorate over an area of 86 dunums. The plan has more than 20,000 solar panels with a production capacity of 7.5 MW, i.e. the equivalent of consumption of approximately 3600 households, and the Nour Jenin plant in Kafrdan in Jenin governorate over an area of 60 dunums. The plant has more than 13500 solar panels with a production capacity of 5 MW, i.e. the equivalent of consumption of 2000 households.

The installation of electricity generation systems and solar panels on the rooftops of 151 schools will be completed by the end of this year. Activities continue on two levels, the completion of works in schools approved for this year, and the preparation for new schools. Noteworthy, is that all installation process of solar energy systems on schools’ rooftops are carried out by Palestinian private sector developers.

PIF succeeded in attracting funding from international institutions for this program, such as IFC and EIB. The programs objectives are aligned with these institutions’ goals of achieving sustainable development and the development of sectors that affect the lives of citizens, particularly the energy sector. On the other hand, the partnership with these institutions is an indicator of the trust and confidence in the credibility, status, and role of PIF and its governance to achieve the desired impact towards developing the national economy.

In addition to the developmental and financial objectives that the program achieves such as creation of specialized jobs, contribution to covering the needs of schools and paying the monthly electricity bills, as well as reducing the annual electricity costs for participation schools by an average of US$1.2 million dollars annually, transforming consumers into producers, and making savings for the treasury, it also contributes towards improvement of the education environment at schools, the strengthening of the culture of renewable energy, and the development of the educational process.