Orot Rabin
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Orot Rabin ( he, אורות רבין, lit. ''Rabin Lights'') is a
power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...
located on the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
coast in
Hadera Hadera ( he, חֲדֵרָה ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5&nbs ...
,
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
which is owned and operated by the
Israel Electric Corporation Israel Electric Corporation ( he, חברת החשמל לישראל, abbreviation: IEC) is the largest supplier of electrical power in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The IEC builds, maintains, and operates power generation stations, sub- ...
(IEC). As of 2022 it is Israel’s largest power station and contains six thermal generation units capable of producing a total of 2.59GW of electricity using
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...
as the primary fuel. In addition, under construction at the site are two single-shaft natural gas-powered
combined-cycle A combined cycle power plant is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy. On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turb ...
units capable of generating 630 MW each.Orot Rabin Modernization Project
NS Energy, 2019, accessed 28/09/2019
The older, unmodernised four of its total six coal-fuelled units will be closed by mid-2022 in order to eliminate this major source of air pollution in the country.Government OKs Decision to Shut Coal-Fired Power Plants in Hadera by 2022
Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection, 09/08/2018, accessed 28/09/2019


History

Construction of the station began in 1973 and block 1 (steam boiler, turbine and generator units 1-4) began operating in stages between 1981 and 1984. A second generation block (boiler, turbine and generator units 5-6) came online in 1996. A coal port is attached directly to the station which supplies all its coal consumption needs. Its total generating capacity is 2,590 MW of electricity using the six power generating units (composed of two large units and four smaller units) located at the site. The plant's overall design can accommodate two additional large generation units which could be built at a future date. Originally the power station was named ''Maor David'' after David Shiffman, then-chairman of the IEC who died during its lengthy period of construction. However, after the completion of a major expansion of the station in the 1990s and the assassination of
Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until h ...
, the station was renamed in his honor to ''Orot Rabin'',
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
for "Rabin Lights".


Technical description

the plant is Israel's largest power station with its 2,590 MW representing about 19% of the Israel Electric Corporation's total generation capacity (that is, unless Phase D expansion at the
Rutenberg Power Station The Rutenberg Power Station is a coal-fired power plant situated on the Mediterranean coast in Ashkelon, Israel. Description The Rutenberg power station, named for Pinhas Rutenberg, is owned and operated by the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC). ...
in
Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with ...
will be built, at which point the latter would surpass Orot Rabin as Israel's largest power station). The plant burns 18,000 tons of coal every 24 hours and uses 320,000 tons of seawater every hour. It is also possible to operate the station using
fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...
. In 2009, a large
desalination Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in Soil salinity control, soil desalination, which is an issue f ...
plant was built adjacent to the power station. In the mid 2010s, a fourth flue stack coupled with a
scrubber Scrubber systems (e.g. chemical scrubbers, gas scrubbers) are a diverse group of air pollution control devices that can be used to remove some particulates and/or gases from industrial exhaust streams. An early application of a carbon dioxide scr ...
(for FGD) and additional pollution control devices (including an SCR system for reduction) were connected to generation block 2 of the station, significantly reducing the amount of particulate pollution emanating from the block.
Flue-gas stack A flue-gas stack, also known as a smoke stack, chimney stack or simply as a stack, is a type of chimney, a vertical pipe, channel or similar structure through which combustion product gases called flue gases are exhausted to the outside air. Flue g ...
3 of the power station is tall, making it Israel's second-tallest structure after the towers of the
Dimona Radar Facility Dimona Radar Facility (Hebrew: מתקן המכ"ם בדימונה) is a radar facility near Dimona, Israel. History The Dimona Radar facility has two 400 meter (1,300 feet) tall radar tower A radar tower is a tower whose function is to support a ...
, although stack 3 is no longer used since the construction of flue stack 4. The future Israeli landing point of the
EuroAsia Interconnector The EuroAsia Interconnector is a HVDC interconnector between the Greek, Cypriot, and Israeli power grids via the world's longest submarine power cable ( from Israel to Cyprus and from Cyprus to Greece, for a total of ). Connecting Kofinou, Cypru ...
is planned to be constructed at the site.


Development: replacing coal with gas


Units 1-4 replacement

In 2016 the Israeli Ministry of Energy announced that the IEC would be ordered to shut down the older block 1 (generation units 1-4) of the station in the early 2020s. Block 1's production capacity will be replaced with a natural gas powered 2-unit
combined cycle power plant A combined cycle power plant is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy. On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turb ...
utilizing two advanced
GE Power GE Power (formerly known as GE Energy) is an American energy technology company, owned by General Electric. Structure As of July 2019, GE Power is divided into the following divisions: * GE Gas Power (formerly Alstom Power Turbomachines), bas ...
HA-class gas turbines. One unit is expected to come online in the first quarter of 2023 and the second in the fourth quarter of that year. The new gas-powered plant is expected to be built in the space originally reserved for additional coal units in the northern part of the Orot Rabin site and although shut down, coal units 1-4 will continue to be maintained so that they may be restarted in case of emergency (such as an extended disruption in the domestic supply of natural gas).


Pollution

Coal units 1-4 are the oldest and most polluting ones in the country, producing about 25% of the main total
particulates Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...
emissions generated by all sources in the entire country. Unlike block 2, as well as both blocks of the Rutenberg coal plant, a scrubber has not been fitted to the four units of Orot Rabin's block 1. The old, unmodernised coal-fueled units 1 through 4 pollute 10 to 1000 times more per kilowatt than natural gas-fueled power plants, and 3 to 8 times more than a coal plant fitted with scrubbers.


Productivity

The shutdown of coal units 1-4 will also save Israel's economy billions of shekels, and bring its electricity sector into the 21st century in accordance to developed world standards.


Environmental issues

Orot Rabin has been accused of polluting the nearby
Hadera Stream Hadera Stream ( he, נחל חדרה, Nahal Hadera), known in Arabic as Nahr Mufjir ( ar, نهر المفجر) and previously also as ''Nahr Akhdar'' ( ar, نهر الأخضر, , green river), is a seasonal watercourse in Israel. The Crusaders cal ...
.
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
claims that the station pollutes the sea water when coal is unloaded from ships and the sea water used for cooling the plant ends up in the Hadera River which harms wildlife. On the other hand, hot water gushing from the plant draws schools of hundreds of
sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body o ...
and dusky sharks every winter. Scientists are researching the rare phenomenon, which is unknown in the vicinity. It is speculated that the water, which is ten degrees warmer than the rest of the sea, may be the attraction.Sharks drawn to warm waters by Israeli coastal power plant
/ref>


See also

*
Economy of Israel The economy of Israel is a developed free-market economy. The prosperity of Israel's advanced economy allows the country to have a sophisticated welfare state, a powerful modern military said to possess a nuclear-weapons capability, modern inf ...
*
Energy in Israel Most energy in Israel comes from fossil fuels. The country's total primary energy demand is significantly higher than its total primary energy production, relying heavily on imports to meet its energy needs. Total primary energy consumption was ...
*
List of power stations in Israel The following is a list of the power stations in Israel. Coal Orot Rabin is since 2016 in the process of being converted to natural gas (see article). Gas Proposed Solar *Ashalim power station * Ketura Sun *Neot Hovav *Tze'elim Pum ...


References

{{supertall chimneys Chimneys in Israel Coal-fired power stations in Israel Hadera Buildings and structures in Haifa District