(haipo) – Director General of the Ministry of Energy, Yossi Dayan, at the Eilat 2026 Real Estate Center Conference, warns against relying on foreign countries and emphasizes the importance of renewable energies: "Evacuation of the ZEN should not be conditional on moving the refinery to the south"
In a professional panel that dealt with the future of Haifa Bay as part of the Eilat 2026 Real Estate Center Conference, he presented Director General of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, Yossi Dayan, The ministry's position regarding the evacuation plan for the ZAN complex (Tama 75) and the challenges facing the Israeli energy sector in the era after the "Iron Swords" war. Dayan emphasized that Israel must ensure energy resilience, diversify energy sources and reduce dependence on imports.
"During the war we realized we were alone": Israel as an "energy island"
Dayan referred to the lessons of the past year and clarified that the events of the war revealed Israel's vulnerability when it comes to energy supply: "We saw the difficulties in bringing ships in and the unwillingness of certain countries to cooperate. The Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure is committed to providing energy in sunshine and rain, in war and peace, and therefore we cannot rely solely on imports."
According to him, the ministry is working to expand the variety of energy sources, with an emphasis on renewable energies, alongside the development of strategic storage infrastructure.
Two alternatives for evacuation from the Zan: limited refining or relocation to the south
The CEO presented the two main options being considered by the government:
The limited refining alternative – Closing the refinery in Haifa and relying on the limited refining capacity of the refinery in Ashdod, combined with large-scale imports of distillates.
The Copy and Upgrade Alternative – Construction of a new, more advanced and environmentally friendly refining facility in the south of the country.
Dayan emphasized that despite the statutory complexity, the evacuation of the bay should not be delayed: "I do not think that we should condition the closure of the ZEN on the completion of its relocation to the south. We must act on two parallel levels: building distillate storage capabilities for national resilience, and promoting the relocation alternative."
"Israel must be at the forefront of AI": On Invida's entry into the North
Dayan also addressed Invida's decision to establish operations in Israel, and in particular in the north: "From an energy perspective, this is definitely a significant challenge, to provide the energy, but the contribution to Israel and the north will be invaluable."
He said the country must prepare for a stable energy supply for data centers and electricity-intensive industries.
"Not dependent on external factors": A call to accelerate storage solutions
In conclusion, Dayan emphasized that the evacuation of Haifa Bay requires advance preparation: "Promoting strategic storage solutions is a necessary condition for any evacuation process, to ensure that the transition from the bay will not harm the continuity of supply to Israeli citizens."
According to him, only a combination of storage infrastructure, renewable energies, and advanced refining capabilities will ensure the future of the Israeli energy sector.
They put children to sleep. When you bring your families to live in the Kishon River, maybe you will be allowed to express an opinion on what to do with the souls of the other children who are barely breathing!!!!
30 years ago, during the time of Minister Fuad Ben-Eliezer, it was decided to solve the infrastructure problem in Haifa Bay, to which the pyrochemistry and refineries would be relocated. As we saw, the port of the bay from the sea was built within 4 years. Similarly, a very large infrastructure problem could have been built north of Kiryat Shmona, to which the ZAN, a fuel port and petrochemical plants would be relocated. Unfortunately, the State of Israel considered the residents of Haifa to be second-class citizens, and every solution proposed for removing the pyrochemistry was blocked. Not only that, they transferred the dangerous gas farm from Glilot to the bay. Because the residents of Ramat Aviv and Shikun L must not be endangered. On the other hand, there is no problem endangering or poisoning the residents of Kiryat Haim with a leaking fuel farm.
Your starting point is a prejudice and your entire response is based on it that the citizens of Haifa are second-class and the comparison to Ramat Aviv is of course incorrect. Haifa has had a strategic asset for 100 years, the city's economy as well as the livelihood of many of the city's residents relies on it. Ramat Aviv (Tel Aviv) does not have this and has other sources of income, but it also suffers from air pollution no less than Haifa and perhaps more, which originates from the hundreds of thousands of vehicles that enter the city every day, so every city has its own problems!!! Regarding the matter of moving gas stations and tank farms to other sites, then no one is standing in line so that there will be an alternative site within their settlement.
The interesting thing is that they talk about Israel's continued isolation - energy isolation, why aren't they talking about diplomatic agreements instead? It's time for professional decision-makers to push politicians to understand that in the concept of wars there are only losers.