While 100% of the city’s daytime electricity is from renewable sources, Eilat’s residents haven’t followed the same pace to install private solar panels or create community energy hubs to ensure the energy produced matches the growing demand consumption. Usually, for property owners comparing solar panel offers, based on a long term perception can be so confusing that most of them give up on going through the installation. Thus, while the city is moving forward, a gap has been growing between the municipality’s ambition and the residents. We believe that this could become a challenge as the property sector expands quickly and knowing that Eilat has pledged to be climate neutral by 2030 (as part of the 112 Cities Mission). There is a lack of access to clear information on solar panels for individual use as well as on how to maintain them. It impacts all the residents and especially those coming from marginalized communities. To tackle this, we have initiated a platform called Eilat Solar that participates in the democratization of solar energy but which could be improved to tackle this challenge fully. In addition, we would like to encourage our residents to create energy communities through this platform as well to reduce energy poverty.
