Doral, Ampa and Nadav Balila plan $325 million data center in Alon Tavor
The planned 50 MW facility will be located near major electricity infrastructure, but has not yet secured a grid connection.
Renewable energy company Doral, the Ampa Group, and Nadav B. Logistics, controlled by entrepreneur Nadav Balila, are expanding their data center operations with plans to develop an additional facility in the Alon Tavor industrial zone in the Jezreel Valley.
The facility is planned to have an IT capacity of approximately 50 megawatts, with an estimated construction cost of more than NIS 1 billion ($325M). The project joins a data center that the three partners are developing in the Har-Tuv industrial zone near Beit Shemesh, which is planned to have an IT capacity of approximately 75 megawatts. If both projects are completed, the partners' combined planned computing capacity will reach approximately 125 megawatts.
The land earmarked for the Alon Tavor project is located near electricity generation and transmission infrastructure, with the Alon Tavor power station at the center of the surrounding energy infrastructure. According to the companies, this proximity could provide a significant advantage as access to electricity has become one of the main bottlenecks facing the development of data centers in Israel.
The Alon Tavor project, however, has not yet secured a connection to the electricity grid. This contrasts with the Har-Tuv project, for which the partners have already received a commitment from the electricity system operator for a connection.
The issue comes as the Electricity Authority and Noga, which manages Israel's electricity system, have imposed restrictions in recent months on new requests to connect data centers to the grid. The restrictions reflect surging electricity demand and concerns about additional loads on the transmission system.
The Har-Tuv project, which the companies announced last May, is planned to be built on an area of approximately 27 dunams. It has already received a commitment from the system operator for a 96-megavolt-ampere (MVA) connection.
Last week, Doral and Ampa published a forecast stating that the Har-Tuv data center is expected to generate annual revenue of approximately $150 million and EBITDA of approximately $100 million in a full year of operation.
Doral says its entry into the data center market is part of an effort to expand its business beyond renewable energy generation and storage into the field of electricity consumption.
The company is seeking to leverage its experience in developing energy infrastructure to enter the growing market for high-energy computing facilities, where demand is rising alongside the expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud services.
Doral CEO Yoni Hantis said, "the company is working to build a significant activity in the field of server farms, while integrating its capabilities in the production, storage and supply of electricity."
Ampa CEO Zohar Levy said the Alon Tavor project is a continuation of the company's expansion strategy in the field.
According to Aviv Perianti, deputy CEO of Nadav B. Logistics, "the move is intended to exhaust the potential of the company's land through the development of projects in infrastructure areas that benefit from long-term demand."
