Israel is planning to expand solar energy development as part of a new government strategy to achieve a 2030 goal of generating 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.

By the end of 2021, Israel has developed 3,591MW of solar energy; by 2025, this figure will jump to 9,800MW; by the end of the century, it will reach 17,145MW, according to a new roadmap published by the Israel Electricity Authority and Ministry of Energy.

The government strategy highlights the need to explore agricultural photovoltaics, upgrade network infrastructure and encourage local governments to build new renewable energy plants.

The Israeli government had previously set an interim target to generate 20 percent of its electricity generation from renewables by the end of 2025, while also pledging to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

As more solar energy is connected to the grid, Israel will need a lot of network infrastructure and new energy storage facilities, and the limited land area of new projects is a challenge to achieve renewable energy goals.

The strategy also warns that the decentralization of power between different sectors could make it difficult for Israel to develop renewable energy policies.

In 2020, only 6 percent of Israel's electricity will come from renewable sources, the U.S. International Trade Administration said. Bureaucratic bottlenecks, scarcity of land resources, and underdeveloped transmission infrastructure in remote areas are often cited as reasons for lower-than-expected renewable energy utilization in Israel.

According to Israel's plan, by 2030, 70% of the country's electricity generation will come from natural gas.