Eliezer Tokman, chief executive of Siemens Israel, says the deal marks the “beginning of a solar revolution in Israel”.

Arava says it will initially build mid-sized arrays averaging 6.5MW in size at each of the kibbutzim, or agricultural co-operatives, scattered across the southern Negev desert and northern Israel. The first project will commence at Kibbutz Ketura, where Arava was founded.

However, the firm intends to expand the arrays into large-scale projects, eventually adding as much as 500MW.

Arava