Renewables developer EDP Renewables has signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with a US-based technology company to offer power through its three solar projects with a combined capacity of 176MWp EDP Renewables will supply power from three European PV plants: the Ketzin solar project in Germany (87MWp) the Venoy project in France (19MWp) and the Chiaramonte project in Italy (70 MWp) The PPA will begin in 2025 and have a duration of up to 20 years These projects are expected to generate more than 226GWh of electricity annually and EDP Renewables did not disclose the name of the partner “Technology companies are placing a strong emphasis on using clean energy to power their data centres and support AI development and it is imperative that the collective transition to cleaner energy consumption occurs through partnerships such as this one,” said Miguel Stilwell D’Andrade Earlier this year, EDP Renewables and US solar financier and operator Volt Energy Utility started construction on a 100MWac solar project in the US state of Illinois The Hickory solar park will be built near Jerseyville and the developers have an agreement in place to sell proceeds from the project to US technology giant Microsoft The companies have signed an agreement whereby Microsoft will acquire renewable energy credits generated at the project for 15 years following the start of operations we have upgraded our product offerings and features to bring you the best experience please check your email inbox for password reset message from PV Tech and follow the instructions Can\'t find the email? Try to sign in again and use the "Forgot Password" button If you have any questions please contact us Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information 2019 at 9:14 AM EDTBookmarkSaveLock This article is for subscribers only.German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is reviving the idea of storing carbon-dioxide emissions underground as the nation struggles to achieve its climate targets Since his retirement in 2021 as director of the Mossad former spy chief Yossi Cohen — considered a close confidant and possible successor of Binyamin Netanyahu — took the mandatory cooling-off period required for high-ranking former security officials before they enter politics and spent two and a half years avoiding the media as demonstrations against the newly-elected government and its proposed judicial overhaul were tearing the country apart he stepped out of the shadows and published a cautionary article in Yedioth Aharonot conveying a message that left no room for commentary The former Mossad head warned about an acute and immediate security danger as a result of the rift in the nation He called for a halt in the judicial reform process on one hand and the cessation of demonstrations on the other saying that the advancement of the legislative package was causing an immediate threat to national security Cohen wrote that even if judicial reform was “right and justified,” it was being done in a way that “endangers the national security resilience of the State of Israel in the immediate timeframe.” He said the perceived rift in the nation would harm security resilience and the country’s security edge while he was celebrating Simchas Torah with his family at his home in Modiin Hamas terrorists invaded Israel under cover of heavy rocket fire and carried out the most brutal and heinous massacre in its history I was petrified that something like this would happen although no one in their wildest dreams could have imagined the scope and brutality of it,” Yossi Cohen says in a wide-ranging interview with Mishpacha “But the public chaos that reigned was just inviting an attack.” While Yossi Cohen kept in the shadows before the war having been spotted in Qatar during that host country’s hostage negotiations Even though he no longer serves in an official capacity once the news broke that Hamas was holding kidnapped civilians and soldiers it was widely reported that Cohen went to Qatar to assist in negotiations for their release Cohen denies that he was part of the hostage negotiating team but acknowledges that — due to his wide network of contacts in the Arab world and a long-invested relationship with Qatar — Netanyahu had appointed Cohen as an emissary “for special missions.” Some might say that both Cohen’s new diplomatic role and his re-entry into the media minefield is his attempt to survive the inevitable fallout that will hit all the government and security players on “the day after,” when investigations into the colossal security failure that led to the war will abound and everyone will have to give a reckoning Like the entire security and political leadership has been tarnished — part of the dirty undercurrent in which all the major players will have to take responsibility for October 7 Although not long ago he was seen as a successor and confidante of Bibi he seems to have put some distance between himself and the prime minister over comments about the judicial overhaul package and has assumed an ambiguous role in the Hostage Family Forum which is seen by many as the extension of the year-long anti-government protest movement While Cohen took over the leadership of the Mossad in 2016 nine years after Hamas came to power in Gaza he had been an integral part of the system in the defense and intelligence community promoting the notion that Hamas was not interested in war and could be bought off with an infusion of cash — most of it from oil-rich Qatar Cohen flew to the capital city of Doha and returned with Qatari money to be handed over to Hamas on Netanyahu’s behalf he expressed regret for this failed policy Has Yossi Cohen’s legacy — as the derring-do swashbuckling master spy who’s credited with snatching the Iranian nuclear archives among so many other larger-than-life missions — been irreparably tarnished by the war’s massive security failure As all factions are feeling their way forward in the post-October 7 environment waiting for the dust to settle and see where they all land Yossi Cohen — a seventh-generation Yerushalmi and former talmid of Yeshivat Or Etzion and Rav Chaim Drukman a”h who has said that his faith in Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael are the values that have guided and protected him in operations all over the world — held the Mossad position of ketzin isuf he rose in the ranks and was involved in many missions to Western Europe where he lived for several years with his wife and children he was known simply as “Y” (until the late 1990s everyone in the organization but that’s changed in the politically correct 21st century) Cohen was appointed by then-Mossad chief Meir Dagan to tackle the Iranian nuclear program and that meant a historical shift: cooperating with foreign government agencies once considered enemies — everyone loathed Iran’s support of Hezbollah and nobody wanted Tehran to have a nuclear bomb Cohen was appointed as a deputy director under new Mossad head Tamir Pardo but their operation style and vision clashed and Cohen left the agency to become Netanyahu’s National Security Adviser ­— and his closest confidant Netanyahu surprised everyone — including Yossi Cohen himself — by appointing Cohen as the new Mossad head It was a natural choice for the prime minister who had implicit trust in Cohen and viewed him as his most reliable partner in security consultations it was really no surprise that Yossi Cohen was seen in Qatar — the pro-Hamas country that has become the hostage negotiating link — at the same time as current Mossad chief David Barnea but he claims he isn’t cutting into anyone else’s territory even though he spent two decades building up close contacts with that country “I’m not formally involved in negotiations,” he says I’m in intense contact with the families and with released hostages I also use my connections on the international scene Cohen says Israel has the support of foreign leaders both regarding the hostage crisis and regarding the destruction of Hamas — even many Arab states Even defense officials have raised the sentiment that Qatar is part of the problem and in the murky climate of international politics when arch-enemies can become fast conditional friends It’s like mediation in the criminal underworld The mediator is not going to be a great rabbi Qatar is the most effective mediator Israel has in the hostage negotiations Netanyahu — who had to figure out how to tread between Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah on the northern border — gambled that a strong Hamas (but not too strong) would keep the peace and reduce pressure for a Palestinian state Allowing payments from Qatar — billions of dollars over more than a decade — was a gamble that a steady flow of money would maintain a cold peace in Gaza It was the backbone of what’s become known as “the concept” — a fundamentally flawed assessment by the gamut of Israeli political leaders and intelligence officials that Hamas was neither interested in nor capable of a large-scale attack Israeli intelligence officers even escorted a Qatari official into Gaza where he doled out money from suitcases filled with millions of dollars Even as the Israeli military obtained battle plans for a Hamas invasion over the past year as analysts and surveillance lookouts observed significant terrorism exercises just over the border in Gaza While Hamas has always stated its commitment to eliminating the State of Israel each payout was a testament to the Israeli government’s view that Hamas was more of a low-level nuisance than a serious threat a strategy buttressed by repeated intelligence assessments that Hamas was neither interested in nor capable of launching a significant attack inside Israel But not everyone in the government was on board months after becoming defense minister in 2016 detailing Hamas was slowly building its military abilities to attack Israel and he argued that Israel should strike first Netanyahu probably read the political map right when he realized that the Israeli public would never go along with a pre-emptive strike it was decided that the Qatari government would make millions of dollars in cash payments directly to people in Gaza as part of a cease-fire agreement with Hamas who was Israel’s education minister in 2018 when the payments began and later became the defense minister called the payments “protection money,” yet during his short one-year stint as prime minister in 2021 Qatar was spending roughly $30 million a month in Gaza who managed the Qatari file for many years even before he became Mossad chief had finally begun to question Israel’s policy toward these funds announced that the Qatari cash had spiraled out of control Today it’s no secret that those millions in “humanitarian” aid were siphoned off by Hamas to build its 500-mile-long tunnel network and finance its weapons arsenal and military operations Just this week it was reported that after almost four months of war as much as 80 percent of the extensive tunnel network beneath Gaza remains intact Yossi Cohen might have been erroneously hooked into the failed “concept,” but he definitely called it right when it came to the Abraham Accords and the idea that Arab states really are interested in a practical brokered peace with Israel says he’s not worried about all that effort falling apart one of the flagship nations of the Abraham Accords led the UN Security Council session to stop the war “At this level of diplomacy,” Cohen explains “in order for a peace agreement to happen between the State of Israel and other nations there has to be a very high level of trust between people I believe that that level has been reached I cannot say that it happened only with or because of me but this thing called a peace agreement comes only after that level of trust is attained you don’t ‘on-off’ on your peace agreements you don’t just get out of an existing deal.” He says you have to read between the lines The real one is the depth of personal and bilateral relationships that you maintain with a country: economics The visible level is the public condemnations calls at the UN and declarations about an ‘impending humanitarian catastrophe.’ We need to know how to read it you don’t see major crises with Egypt and Jordan which might be drawing closer to a normalization agreement with us I also don’t see that the European states have cut off ties with us even though some of them come out against us in their public statements.” That’s partially because when it comes to facing terror organizations “We help a large number of nations all over the world fight terror — even countries like Turkey who don’t have very many nice words for us All these countries know that what is happening in Gaza is an existential war against terror not a war between two little states,” Cohen says is conditioning a normalization agreement on the advancement of a two-state solution and Jordan — six Muslim nations — have signed peace agreements without the Palestinian issue being resolved despite Israelis feeling manipulated by America Cohen believes strategic ties with the Biden administration are “very good.” And he believes in keeping them that way the State of Israel will always need to work hard to defend itself We need it in its veto votes in the Security Council Anyone who thinks — and there are those who do — that we need to criticize the American administration is making a critical mistake.” He says that Israel has to know how to get along with both parties — Democrats and Republicans just like we expect that they not mix in to our democratic politics,” he states “These are elections of the Israeli nation I really appreciate the American administration Look at how many visits we’ve had by Secretary of State Tony Blinken the president’s advisor for the Middle East Bret McGurk who was in the past an impressive diplomat is part of the administration that has physically taken a position on our side The United States will not force us to do things against our will and our best interests Despite calls to end the war before the objectives are finished Cohen says that it was the military pressure that led to the release of the first batch of hostages but there’s something you need to give.’ And on this topic we have to say that the hard part is still ahead of us.” has there been no attack on the country’s nuclear sites Iran’s military nuclear program,” Cohen says “The work of the Mossad was not only internal surgical operations but also secret diplomatic actions on a broad scale — which led us to the capture of the Iranian nuclear archives.” The capture of the nuclear archive in the summer of 2018 which became a symbol of the Israeli war against a nuclear Iran is still a source of pride and satisfaction “The whole world signed onto this great lie called JCPOA which supposedly ensures that Iran’s nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful and therefore sanctions against Iran will be lifted and so I led the archive operation because I believed that something bad was happening under our noses and we hadn’t yet proven it well enough to the world.” tens of thousands of documents were stolen from an Iranian installation and brought to Israel And it will go down in history as Yossi Cohen’s crowning achievement In the words of former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo following the Israeli heist of Iran’s secret nuclear archives the Mossad “has redefined daring and boldness.” when Mossad operatives learned of Iranian storage houses filled with material about its nuclear project Cohen decided to make the stash the Mossad’s next target The decision seemed delusional — only a highly developed imagination could fathom a plan to penetrate deep into an enemy country But the new Mossad chief saw the operation as a question of Israel’s survival The agency expended extensive resources locating the site where the secret files were being held and tracking those files when they were moved to an abandoned warehouse outside Tehran This was Iran’s nuclear secret treasure: drawings and timetables on how to produce nuclear weapons and warheads A network of operatives and infiltrators with bogus identities and cover stories who managed to neutralize all electronic surveillance devices spent the night snatching the store of documents that were kept in 32 ironclad safes using special torches that reached 3,600 degrees to slice into those safes they used Iranian smugglers to get the truckloads of files across the border While many former Mossad officials believed in sticking to the old sealed-lips policy and would have preferred the heist only be shared confidentially with Israel’s intelligence allies Cohen pushed for going public with the operation internationally broadcast public revelation of the files and the concealed sites containing radioactive material and a nuclear weapons development facility had real-time policy implications The findings served as a platform for US president Donald Trump to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal Barack Obama had reached with Iran and instead launch his maximum-pressure campaign on the Islamic Republic Even skeptics from European countries who initially preferred to go easy on Iran were overwhelmed by the breadth of the data the Mossad procured and revised many of their own policies on Iran’s nuclear program Iran does not have military nuclear capability right now,” Cohen explains “It is progressing in the arena of enrichment “But we’ve planted a few more spokes in the wheels preventing Iran from going nuclear was primary — if it had reached nuclear military capability Yossi Cohen can go back to that heady feeling of doing something huge for the security of the State of Israel especially these days when all eyes are upon the military and security echelons for some kind of rational explanation as to their catastrophic failure “I believe that the real story will shake us all But it will also make us more alert and aware about who we are and what’s happening to us It underscored for me this feeling: You see an enemy who says he wants to kill you So assume that he wants to kill you and that he’s not only capable but also highly motivated to do so.” “How does a country that has all that we have — cyber How did the F-35 not prevail over the RPG on October 7 you lose a lot of your focus about your primary mission The primary mission here was the two defense lines that collapsed “The first defense line was the intelligence line When I look to eliminate terrorists who are trying to harm Israel embassies when and where he is and then I can apprehend him and then I protect the Israeli embassies and installations “The assumption that there are enemies in your backyard is the second line of defense ‘there are probably no terrorists?’ On the contrary Both lines of defense collapsed together within a few minutes or if you don’t assume that the enemy is on your heels — then you fall.” verified reports about an imminent attack were coming in for months along with the entire military and security establishment If he can extricate himself from the political gallows it’s no secret that he sees himself competing in the future for leadership of the right — and of the state But first will come a postwar reckoning for Israel’s entire political and security establishment — including the former spy chief “There’s one thing I can tell you right now: Taking responsibility is not a luxury Yisrael YoskowitzNo Regrets  “Anti-Semitism hasn’t disappeared 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