Methanol tested as a power generation fuel in Israel

Eilat, Israel’s most southerly city,  has a population of about 50,000 and recently one of the production units at its power plant started burning methanol instead of diesel. This was done in the advanced stages of a pilot project being implemented by the Israel Electric Power Corporation and Dor Chemicals to improve the reliability of the city’s power supply. Apart from enhancing reliability, project proponents anticipate better environmental performance (methanol burns much cleaner than diesel) and economic benefits (methanol is 15% cheaper than diesel, a differential that is expected to increase).