On Thursday 2 August, the European Commission announced that the EU had completed the biggest photovoltaic solar field ever erected in Gaza.
This field will provide 0.5 Megawatts of electricity per day to fuel the Southern Gaza Desalination Plant. This EU-funded plant currently provides drinking water to 75,000 inhabitants in the Khan Younis and Rafah governorates. A Commission press release explained that “With the new energy field and new investments foreseen it will eventually reach 250,000 people in Southern Gaza by 2020”. In Gaza 97% of the water is unfit for human consumption.
The EU budget mobilised between 2006 and 2017 was €128 million. €21 million has been allocated in 2018. The Commission explains that “the goal is to secure self-sufficient, equitable, affordable and sustainable access to energy, safe drinking water and sanitation services for all”.
In the coming months, more EU-funded projects in this area will be launched in Gaza. The Union will provide support of €1.5 million to Oxfam in its efforts to complete the rehabilitation of brackish desalination plants (approximately 16 public and 30 private), which will serve 58,000 people living in Gaza.
The EU will also help to improve the efficiency of the water sector and has allocated €8.5 million to decrease water network losses in Gaza.
Finally, the EU will support the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) in reforming the Palestinian water sector by assisting the PWA to operationalise the New Water Law and to create a Palestinian National Water Company.
In March, the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy, Johannes Hahn, announced an additional €7.1 million to help build the desalination plant in Gaza (see EUROPE 11985).
On the same day as the Commission's announcement, Israel announced that it had blocked fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip in response to kite fire bombs. Fuel will be used to help generators operate which, due to the lack of a electricity, will help distribute and purify the water. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)