Cablegate: Tda Grant Supports Renewable Energy, Palestinian

VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJM #0134 0211601
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211601Z JAN 10
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7357
INFO RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 5135
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 8768
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0001
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS JERUSALEM 000134

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/IPA, EEB, AND S/P; COMMERCE FOR WEIGLER; NSC
FOR KUMAR, TDA FOR KRESS AND HUBBARD; OPIC FOR DRUMHELLER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EAID EINV ENRG KWBG KPAL
SUBJECT: TDA GRANT SUPPORTS RENEWABLE ENERGY, PALESTINIAN
ENTREPRENEUR

REF: 09 JERUSALEM 2072

1. Summary. At a January 20 signing ceremony attended by
press and Palestinian Authority (PA) officials, the U.S.
Trade Development Agency (TDA) awarded a nearly $440,000
grant to support the development of a high efficiency,
alternative energy heating and cooling system for an
affordable housing development outside Ramallah (reftel).
The grantee company, MENA Geothermal, is headed by a young
Palestinian-Canadian entrepreneur who developed the first use
of commercial geothermal energy in the Middle East and North
Africa region, in a Ramallah office building. End Summary.

2. The $438,682 grant, signed by the Consul General on
behalf of TDA, will support a feasibility study for a
district geothermal heating and cooling system at a planned
522-unit affordable housing complex outside Ramallah. MENA
Geothermal has developed several other projects that use the
technology on a smaller scale, including its Ramallah office
building, a high-end housing development on the outskirts of
Ramallah, and, soon, an Israeli NGO building in West
Jerusalem. Note: Geothermal systems pump water for heating
and cooling systems through an underground loop to keep the
water at a constant temperature, which means it is cooled
less in summer and heated less in winter. End Note. The
technology is estimated to decrease energy consumption and
costs by up to 70%, an increasingly important point for
affordable housing in the West Bank, which suffers from
comparatively high energy costs.

3. In his remarks at the event which was covered by a wide
range of local press, Khaled Sabawi, president of MENA
Geothermal, appealed to the PA and its Minister of Planning,
Ali Jirbawi, for assistance with infrastructure needs at new
housing developments. He stressed that it would be difficult
to maintain affordable prices at new developments without PA
funding of access roads, water, electricity, and water
treatment.

RUBINSTEIN

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