The response to the global energy challenge is the solution to the climate crisis threatening us. Energy industries worldwide burn fossil fuels at an average rate of about 20 terawatts, with electricity generation accounting for about 5 terawatts. As a result, energy production currently releases astronomical amounts of greenhouse gas CO2 into the atmosphere, impacting the essential return of radiation to space. Radiation is absorbed into the atmosphere, causing dangerous global warming.
The decarbonization of electricity production requires the use of renewable energy sources (mainly solar and wind) and storage solutions, focusing on electrochemical solutions. Simultaneously, there needs to be an acceleration towards electric transportation. Massive use of solar energy requires massive storage and energy conversion systems (at a level of hundreds of terawatt-hours globally) through modern electrochemistry. Modern electrochemistry can provide all the necessary solutions for both efficient electric transportation and energy storage on a large scale, through water economics and rechargeable batteries built from common natural resources.
In Israel, electricity production will soon reach nearly 20 gigawatts, requiring daily energy storage at a level of about half a terawatt-hour to meet the goals of the 2050 National Energy Plan without emitting greenhouse gases. Israel has a well-organized energy academic community with collaborations with leading energy research groups worldwide and MOUs with key industries globally (for energy storage facilities, rechargeable batteries, transportation materials). This organization has been led jointly for over a decade by energy scientists from Bar-Ilan University and the Technion, demonstrating leadership, fair resource allocation, and efficiency among dozens of research groups from 7 academic institutions. Israel’s energy scientists, led by Bar-Ilan and the Technion, have all the capabilities to offer energy storage solutions on the necessary scale, including rechargeable batteries, efficient water economics, carbon-free recycling, and all the comprehensive engineering support needed for electricity engineering, networks, regulation, and branding.
The National Institute represents a revolutionary upgrade of Israel’s energy capabilities, creating long-term academia-industry-government interfaces, developing breakthrough technologies for energy accumulation and conversion using electrochemical methods, training human resources in energy without precedent, promoting knowledge-based startup companies, and transforming them into energy industries that will make Israel energy-independent in “green” energy within about two decades.
National capability upgrades include at the Technion: adding cutting-edge analytical equipment for the benefit of energy scientists in the country, and at Bar-Ilan: establishing prototyping labs where university-generated knowledge will be coupled with practical installations in serial production, thereby transforming academic knowledge and high research capabilities into attractive practical systems that justify industrial development.
Vision
The Energy Institute is a first-of-its-kind breakthrough center in Israel, providing a ‘360-degree envelope’ at all stages of the value chain of technological development. The innovative model ensures that planning, development, and commercialization processes of technologies will be carried out with comprehensive and systematic consideration of the various challenges and opportunities in the energy sector:
- The institute has a unique synergistic structure, bringing together numerous experts at an international level, forming strategic partnerships based on multidisciplinary and systemic vision required for ecosystem development.
- At the core of the institute are dedicated infrastructures unprecedented in Israel in terms of scope, diversity, and world-leading equipment.
- Collaborations are structured and organized based on industry needs and stakeholders’ interests, facilitating funding acquisition, infrastructure accessibility, and simplification of partnerships, guided by academic and commercial experts.
- Education and training of the next generation of energy specialists, scientists, and engineers.
- Development of products and services that will enable large companies in the domestic and global market to collaborate with academia in Israel around defined challenges, with a systemic and national perspective.
The institute takes upon itself the strengthening and expansion of the scientific-technological infrastructure platform in the field of electrochemical energy storage in Israel, aiming to create an effective interface of academia-industry-government, while fostering international partnerships to leverage scientific breakthroughs and create advanced solutions with market potential in energy storage and electrochemical energy conversion areas.
Goals and Activities
- Development of the most advanced and practical technologies for energy storage and conversion – the most efficient rechargeable batteries, based on common natural resources, the most efficient systems for water production, and the most efficient fuel cells, with efficiency evaluation including low cost, durability, and material availability. The goal of development is to bring the developed installations and/or solutions to a high level of readiness (Technology Readiness Level – TRL), so that developments will be suitable for industrial adoption and serve as a basis for the establishment of Israeli energy industries.
- Association of all academic research groups dealing with energy storage in the country and the creation of collaborations that will unite the Israeli energy community, maximizing its scientific and technological capabilities.
- Providing scientific and technological solutions for startup companies, industries seeking advice and guidance in the field of electrochemical energy storage, and Israeli government agencies.
- Creating a unique platform for experimentation, promotion, and knowledge transfer in the fields of renewable energy, across all TRL levels, through innovation models and the expansion of specialized infrastructure for the field.
- Development of national and international collaborations to leverage Israel’s activity in technological innovation in the energy sector, which will address the growing demand for solutions and services aiding in achieving international goals in tackling the global climate crisis and reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
- Expansion and nurturing of the future generation of scientists and engineers in the energy field, who will develop and build practical applications and theoretical models that address current and future challenges in the energy sustainability field.
טיפה מספרים
Calls for Proposals
The National Institute for Energy Storage (INIES) is pleased to announce calls for proposals to support applied scientific research in energy conversion and storage technologies. Current global energy consumption relies heavily on fossil fuels, resulting in significant CO₂ emissions that drive dangerous climate change. Decarbonization of electricity generation requires extensive use of renewable energy sources, mainly solar and wind, coupled with advanced energy storage solutions focused on electrochemical technologies. NIES invites accredited higher education institutions to submit proposals for innovative research projects that advance the development of cost-effective, durable, and scalable batteries, hydrogen production systems, fuel cells, and related energy storage technologies. This platform will host details of open calls and highlight selected awardees.
