Babcock & Brown wants an Israeli energy company as a partner. The Australian investment company is the second international company expressing an interest in the tender; Spain's Abengoa Bioenergy SA has contacted the Ministry of National Infrastructures about it.
The 250-megawatt solar power station will be built at Ashalim in the central Negev under a BOT (build, operate, transfer) contract.Babcock & Brown's portfolio already comprises thirteen operating power stations representing over 3,300MW of generation and a further 1,700MW under construction. The firm announced in June 2007 that it was opening an office in Israel to be headed by the former privatization chief Eyal Gabbai.