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 304 TWh (1.037 quad) in 2016, or 26.2 million tonne of oil equivalent.

Electricity consumption in Israel was 57,149 GWh in 2017, while production was 64,675 GWh, with net exports of 4.94 TWh. The installed generating capacity was about 16.25 GW in 2014, almost all from fossil fuel power stations, mostly coal and gas fueled. Renewable energy accounted for a minor share of electricity production, with a small solar photovoltaic installed capacity. However, there are a total of over 1.3 million solar water heaters installed as a result of mandatory solar water heating regulations.

In 2018, 70% of electricity came from natural gas, and 4% from renewables, of which 95% was solar PV.

In 2020, the government committed that by 2030, renewables should reach 30%. This target was further revised in 2021, when Israel pledged at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) to phasing out coal for energy generation by 2025, and reaching net zero for greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The transportation sector has historically relied almost entirely on petroleum derived fuels, as both private motorcars and public transit buses used to overwhelmingly rely on gasoline or diesel - and still do, despite efforts to change this. However, Israel is undertaking a mobility transition which includes the electrification of the Israel Railways network (beginning with the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem railway in 2018) and the construction of Jerusalem light rail (opened 2011), public transit cablecars in Haifa and Tel Aviv light rail. In 2018 Israel set the target date for the phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles (i.e. an end to future sales of new fossil fuel powered vehicles) for 2030.

Throughout Israel's history, securing the energy supply had been a major concern of Israeli policymakers. The Israel Electric Corporation, which traces its history to 1923, with the First Jordan Hydro-Electric Power House, is the main electricity generator and distributor in Israel.

Petroleum exploration began in 1947 on a surface feature in the Heletz area in the southern coastal plain. The first discovery, Heletz-I, was completed in 1955, followed by the discovery and development of a few small wells in Kokhav, Brur, Ashdod and Zuk Tamrur in 1957. The combined Heletz-Brur-Kokhav field produced a total of 17.2 million barrels, a negligible amount compared with national consumption. Since the early 1950s, 480 oil and gas wells, land and offshore were drilled in Israel, most of which did not result in commercial success. In 1958–1961, several small gas fields were discovered in the southern Judean desert. From the Six-Day War until the Egyptian Separation Treaty in 1975, Israel produced large quantities of petroleum from the Abu Rodes oil field in Sinai.

In 1951, the Arab states accused American oil interests in Saudi Arabia of selling oil to Central American governments who circumvented the Arab blockade against Israel by selling the oil back to the refinery in Haifa.