Doral CEO: "There is reason to be optimistic, 2024 is the year of renewable energies"

"It is Israel's transition to an open market approach that will allow it to meet its renewable energy production goals,” said Yaki Noyman, CEO of Doral, at Calcalist and Bank Leumi’s Mind the Tech conference in New York.

"When we started investing in the U.S. four years ago, we looked at an open market approach," Noyman said during a fireside chat with Calcalist reporter Yuval Sade. "We wanted a place where we could develop and market our product. We knew there was a demand for green energy in the U.S, and in Israel at the time there was heavy regulation. Our business model is to develop the project ourselves, starting with working with the landowners. One such example is our project in Indiana with an investment of $1.5 billion. It is already active and it is a real success story.

"But 2024 is a year of change, because for the first time in Israel we can sell energy directly to consumers. This will allow Israel to reach the goal of 30% renewable energy by the end of the decade. The open market approach is the most important thing. The Ministry of Finance is always thinking about the last shekel, and this is not the way to reach the goal. We need to let the market, companies and consumers act because there is a great demand for our product, for renewable energy."

What needs to be changed in practice?

"There are challenges and barriers to be removed. In Israel we need to allocate more land for green energy, especially in kibbutzim, more technology, more dual use of land (a combination of agriculture and energy production on the same land), more energy storage. This is the fastest way to reach our goals. We have a project that includes energy production, storage and avocado growing all in one place."

Why invest in green energy companies and not in other companies that are already generating a lot of money?

"The world wants to stop using fossil fuels and switch to green sources. We have a long journey ahead of us. 30 years of revolution. At the micro level, we had two years of challenges such as the situation in Israel and the interest rates, but we are still standing and stronger than ever. Looking to the future, there is a significant decrease in equipment prices and high demand for our electricity. There are many reasons to be optimistic in the coming year. As for equipment prices - in 2018, when we purchased solar models, the price was 4.5 dollars per unit, and today it is 10 cents. This is a revolution."

What's the next big thing?

"It will probably be storage. This is the key to a lot of progress. We are investing in storage. In the future we will have to store energy that we produce in the summer for use in the winter. Many corporations are looking for the next thing. We have a venture capital fund and in three years we have completed 18 different investments. We are a strategic investor and can support companies with moves like conducting experiments at our sites. What we are doing is essential for Israel's energy security. We are enabling the decentralization of electricity production, and this is of strategic importance."

Watch the full interview in the video above.