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The project will be built in two phases, with the first phase consisting of 35 turbines, at a cost of around €150 million. The developer, local firm Kinetic Energies-Alternative Electrical Energies, is in talks with Israel's Bank Leumi to arrange project financing on a 80:20 debt/equity split.

While the turbine supplier has not yet been decided, the machines will likely have a rated power of 2-3MW, says Eli Ben-Dov, general manager of Afcon EB Wind Energy. Ben-Dov is one of the investors in the project, alongside unnamed American investors and local communities on whose land the turbines will stand.

Kinetic Energies-Alternative Electrical Energies has to fulfill certain conditions in order to secure final planning approval and an electricity production licence.

These include holding a public enquiry and agreeing to paint the turbines a colour approved by the defence ministry to make the machines more visible to airforce pilots.

The developer hopes to achieve commercial operation in 2015.

Granting of a construction permit for the project follows last month's announcement that an existing project in the Golan Heights would be repowered.