Orot Rabin power station

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Orot Rabin power station (תחנת הכוח אורות רבין) is an operating power station of at least 2650-megawatts (MW) in Hadera, Haifa, Israel with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Orot Rabin power station	Hadera, Hadera, Haifa, Israel	32.469902, 34.886297 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• CC1, CC2, Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6: 32.469902, 34.886297

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	CHP	Start year	Retired year
CC1	Construction	fossil gas: natural gas	630	combined cycle	not found	–	–
CC2	Construction	fossil gas: natural gas	630	combined cycle	not found	2024 (planned)	–
Unit 1	Operating	coal: bituminous	375	subcritical	–	1982	2025 (planned)
Unit 2	Operating	coal: bituminous	375	subcritical	–	1981	2025 (planned)
Unit 3	Operating	coal: bituminous	375	subcritical	–	1983	2025 (planned)
Unit 4	Operating	coal: bituminous	375	subcritical	–	1984	2025 (planned)
Unit 5, timepoint 1	Operating	coal: bituminous	575	subcritical	–	1995	2026 (planned)
Unit 5, timepoint 2	Announced	fossil gas: natural gas	575	steam turbine	–	2026 (planned)	–
Unit 6, timepoint 1	Operating	coal: bituminous	575	subcritical	–	1996	2026 (planned)
Unit 6, timepoint 2	Announced	fossil gas: natural gas	575	steam turbine	–	2026 (planned)	–

CHP is an abbreviation for Combined Heat and Power. It is a technology that produces electricity and thermal energy at high efficiencies. Coal units track this information in the Captive Use section when known.

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
CC1	Israel Electric Corp Ltd [100%]	Government of Israel [99.8%]; other [0.2%]
CC2	Israel Electric Corp Ltd [100%]	Government of Israel [99.8%]; other [0.2%]
Unit 1	Israel Electric Corp Ltd [100%]	Government of Israel [99.8%]; other [0.2%]
Unit 2	Israel Electric Corp Ltd [100%]	Government of Israel [99.8%]; other [0.2%]
Unit 3	Israel Electric Corp Ltd [100%]	Government of Israel [99.8%]; other [0.2%]
Unit 4	Israel Electric Corp Ltd [100%]	Government of Israel [99.8%]; other [0.2%]
Unit 5, timepoint 1	Israel Electric Corp Ltd [100%]	Government of Israel [99.8%]; other [0.2%]
Unit 5, timepoint 2	Israel Electric Corp Ltd [100%]	Government of Israel [99.8%]; other [0.2%]
Unit 6, timepoint 1	Israel Electric Corp Ltd [100%]	Government of Israel [99.8%]; other [0.2%]
Unit 6, timepoint 2	Israel Electric Corp Ltd [100%]	Government of Israel [99.8%]; other [0.2%]

Unit-level fuel conversion details:

Unit 5: Announced conversion from coal to fossil gas in 2026.

Unit 6: Announced conversion from coal to fossil gas in 2026.

Project-level coal details

• Coal source(s): imported

Background

Construction of the station began in 1973. Its total generating capacity is 2,650 MW of electricity using six power generating units. Units 1-4 were commissioned in 1981-1984 and units 5-6 in 1995-1996. A coal port is attached directly to the station which supplies all its coal consumption needs.

In October 2023, in light of the war in Israel, the Ministry of Energy announced that they would approve a request by the Israel Electric Corp. (IEC) to amend the power station's emissions permit for the duration of the war and "allow for easements in the way the coal is unloaded, its sulfur content and the emission values ​​for sulfur oxides" (Translated by Google). The Ministry of Energy and the IEC estimated that the permit amendments would enable a doubling of the "coal discharge rate" at the power station.

Planned retirement

In August 2016, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said units 1-4 of the power station would be shut down within six years. The units would be replaced with gas plants fed by the Leviathan, Karish, and Tanin gas reservoirs. An examination would occur as to how the coal-burning units 1-4 could be preserved as a backup source of electricity for use in emergency situations, which would allow them to be revived within two weeks if necessary.

In July 2018, the Government of Israel approved Minister Steinitz's proposal to shut down coal burning at Orot Rabin units 1-4 no later than June 2022.

In December 2018, the Israeli government said it would stop the use of coal by 2030. In November 2019, the Israeli government said it would stop the use of coal sooner, by 2025.

In early 2020, the Israel Electric Corp. (IEC) asked the Ministry of Environmental Protection for delay in the closure of Unit 3 of the Rutenberg power station and then permit modifications. It appears the Ministry noted that in order to approve a particular request, the IEC would have to disable some of the coal-fired units at the Orot Rabin power station which don't have scrubbers, as "they are some of the most polluting units operating in Israel. This would balance out the additional pollutants that will be emitted during the period when Unit 3 is operating." The current situation is uncertain although it appears coal units at both power stations may still be running.

In 2021, the IEC and government were in ongoing discussions about the 2022 closure date.

2022 Reports from both the Resources and Energy Quarterly and the International Energy Agency reiterated the intended June 2022 closure of the plant. However, a March 2022 article in the Calcalist Newspaper stated that closure of the plant had been postponed until at least 2023 because of delays in the arrival of parts for the gas turbines meant to replace the electricity generation. The article noted that it "in fact is contrary to the emission permit issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection". Later, in its H1 2022 financial report, IEC noted that it had requested the Ministry of Environmental Protection to place Units 1-2 in preservation after the commercial activation of the first combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) unit (now estimated in April 2023), and to place Units 3-4 in preservation when the second CCGT unit comes online (now estimated in January 2024).

The Ministry of Environmental Protection gave IEC approval to shut-down units 1-4 for 240 days (lower than 300 days requested by IEC) during 2022 in accordance with the emissions permit, excluding when the units have been operated in a state of emergency.

According to the IEC's 2022 annual financial report, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the IEC had agreed that the power station's coal-fired Units 1-4 were permitted to operate only during emergency situations going forward.

In May 2023, it was reported that some of the older units at the power station had been operating in "emergency mode" nearly year-round. Data from the Ministry of Environmental Protection reportedly indicated that at least one unit had been operating 99% of the time in 2022, and 90% of the time to date in 2023.

According to the IEC's Q1 2023 financial report, which appeared to be published in June 2023, activation dates for the two CCGT units that were part of the gas conversion plan were in doubt (as noted below). It was not clear from the IEC report whether a delay in converting Units 5-6 to gas would impact plans for the coal-fired Units 1-4. A media article also from early June 2023, however, reported that the coal units were expected to operate until at least 2030, according to a letter from Nega, the government company that manages the power station.

In January 2024, the Israeli Ministry of the Environment renewed the emissions permit for the power station and announced that Units 1-4 would retire by the end of 2025. Until that date, the units would reportedly be used only in emergency situations. Units 5 and 6 were scheduled to convert to gas in 2026.

In July 2024, a Treasury representative reportedly disagreed with the plan to convert the power station to gas by 2026, saying it was “more realistic” that the conversion would be completed in 2028.

Conversion to gas power

In April 2019, General Electric (GE) was contracted to build the first of two 630 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) units intended to convert part of the Orot Rabin coal-fired power plant to burn gas. A second contract was awarded to GE in January 2020. The plant was expected to enter commercial operation for the first gas unit in 2022.

In its H1 2022 financial report, IEC disclosed that the expected forecast for the activation of the first CCGT unit had been postponed to April 2023, and the activation date of the second unit had been postponed to January 2024. A media article from December 2022 confirmed these expected delays. IEC blamed the recall of GE equipment and the global shipping crisis as the main causes of the delays. In their annual financial report for 2022, it appeared that the IEC had revised operation dates for the CCGT units again, with the first unit expected to enter commercial operation in December 2023, and the second unit expected to enter commercial operation in September 2024.

The IEC's Q1 2023 financial report, which appeared to be published in June 2023, indicated that the timeline for the gas conversion had changed again. The company’s Board of Directors had decided to "suspend the continuation of the project regarding…units 5-6 at the "Orot Rabin" site, until a decision is made by the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure to recognize in principle the costs of the project…" Conversion of Units 3-4 at the Rutenberg power station would also be suspended. The report further stated that if a decision was made to carry out the project in its entirety, an updated completion date would be provided.

In August 2023, the first CCGT unit at the power station was reportedly undergoing testing.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including interactive maps of the power stations, downloadable datasets, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker and the Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.