Reading Power Station

Reading Power Station occupies a site at the mouth of the Yarkon River on Tel Aviv's Mediterranean coast, directly opposite the former Tel Aviv Port.[1] The original station was built on the ancient Tel Kudadi mound, where remains of a fortress that once protected the river mouth from invaders were found.[1] The station stands opposite a bay, and remnants of a World War II protective wall there — including two squat round structures whose function has not been definitively established — are still visible in the area.[6]

The station's development fenced off a stretch of the coastal strip, transferring it to the Israel Electric Corporation. That roughly 60-dunam closed area became, over the decades, a seaside junkyard before part of it was later incorporated into Reading Park and the northern Tel Aviv promenade.[7] The park area contains wild plants, kurkar sandstone, lighthouse remains, bunkers, and traces of a settlement with a history at the site extending back some 3,000 years; the park's third stage cost 11 million shekels, shared equally by the municipality and the Israel Electric Corporation.[7]

The origins of organized electricity supply in Tel Aviv trace to the Palestine Electric Corporation (PEC), founded by Pinhas Rutenberg, which set up a diesel-generator station in the city in 1923 with a capacity of 750 kilowatts.[8][9] Electric lights replaced hurricane lamps in the city following that opening.[10] The corporation's generating capacity grew to 2,250 kilowatts by 1926 and reached 63,000 kilowatts by 1938 as its network expanded across Mandatory Palestine.[8]

Reading Power Station itself was established in 1938, when Tel Aviv's connection to the national electricity grid reduced the role of the city's earlier facility, which ceased operating completely in 1957.[11] The station was named for Lord Rufus Daniel Isaacs, the Marquess of Reading, who served as chairman of the Palestine Electric Corporation.[1] To mark the station's opening, a bridge over the Yarkon River was inaugurated in 1938; speakers expressed hope that it would help turn "the desolate sands into a blossoming settlement" and support Tel Aviv's expansion north of the river.[1]

Reading A was designed in the monumental International Style of the 1930s, comparable in approach to Haifa A and broadly in the spirit of architect Clifford Holliday's work.[2] Its construction served the city's electricity needs as Tel Aviv grew during the Fourth and Fifth Aliyahs, and it was considered a large, modern station for its era.[2] The building was constructed beyond the Yarkon during the turbulent 1936–1939 disturbances.[2] Ari Shavit has characterized Reading as one of the "outstanding breakthroughs of modern Zionism" from the period.[12]

Reading A began operating in 1938 with a generating capacity of 24 megawatts — equivalent at the time to roughly 30 percent of electricity consumption across the country.[3] A 12-megawatt generator was added to the site in 1948.[2] Reading B followed in 1953, bringing an additional 100 megawatts of capacity.[2]

Reading C was an underground emergency station located near what is now the Yitzhak Rabin Museum. It was inaugurated in 1956 with a capacity of 40 megawatts and operated until 1983.[2] Reading D, the largest stage, began operating in 1971 with a stated capacity of 428 megawatts; by 2011 it was the only station at the site still producing electricity, doing so with natural gas.[2] The enlargement of the site into Reading D transformed what had been an old peripheral building into a modern plant with a prominent chimney that came to dominate large parts of the city's skyline.[10]

The station converted to natural gas in July 2006, initially generating 214 megawatts on gas supplied by Yam Tethys under a roughly ten-year supply contract signed in 2002; a dispute over the condition of the offshore pipeline from Ashkelon was among the reasons the conversion had been delayed.[3] In 2012, the Energy and Water Ministry installed a public energy-awareness display on the station's smokestack: 270,000 LED bulbs on 4.5 kilometers of tracking, rising 100 meters above Tel Aviv's port and six meters wide, displaying national electricity use in real time while consuming nine kilowatt-hours — comparable to four electric kettles.[13]

During the period of British Mandatory rule, Reading A served purposes beyond electricity generation. The station housed a workshop that produced metal parts for weapons and bombs, and it contained two concealed Haganah arms caches.[2] After Reading A stopped generating electricity in 1972, the building hosted cultural and community activities for many years and was designated for preservation.[14]

A July 2018 electricity-sector reform significantly altered the station's institutional standing. The reform required the Israel Electric Corporation to transfer half its power-station holdings through a gradual privatization process scheduled to continue until 2026, with the ultimate aim of placing approximately 60 percent of electricity production in private hands while IEC retained control of transmission.[15] Reading was identified as one of three stations planned for privatization after the earlier sales of Alon Tavor and Ramat Hovav.[15]

The sale of the Reading site was designated as a strategic-infrastructure tender, alongside tenders for the eastern part of Hagit and Eshkol.[15] Because station sales also involve land and future construction rights, Israel Land Authority approval was required; a general competition rule also limited any person or associated entities to rights in stations amounting to no more than 20 percent of planned installed capacity at the time of sale.[15]

The planned sale did not proceed on schedule. A 2022 State Comptroller report stated that the sale had not been executed, while a July 2026 report said that Reading remained unsold and that its units were idle in 2025.[16][5] Planning and construction-regulation problems were among the obstacles cited in connection with selling the land and dismantling the plant.[17]

The station was originally scheduled to close in January 2021, but Government Resolution 211 of August 1, 2021, authorized temporary continued operation to protect electricity-supply reliability in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.[16] In December 2021, the National Planning and Building Council approved continued operation until January 2026 and directed preparation of a national outline plan allowing operation until 2030, with a possible further two-year extension.[16] The Israel State Comptroller described the station at that time as old and having low energy efficiency.[16]

Electricity generation was suspended in October 2022 to allow asbestos removal, made possible by the opening of the Atidim switching station in Ramat Hahayal.[4] In April 2023, the Israel Electric Corporation's CEO described Reading as dormant and said it had been out of business for approximately a year; he cited planning and construction-regulation problems as obstacles to selling the land and warned of a potential electricity shortage in central Israel from 2026 without continued operation or adequate alternatives.[17]

Alternatives considered after the suspension included mobile natural-gas units or distributed solar generation in Gush Dan combined with electricity storage.[18] In January 2024, Energy Minister Eli Cohen announced that electricity generation at Reading would not resume and that the Israel Electric Corporation would build storage facilities on the site. Damage during asbestos removal was cited as making restoration of the generating equipment appear impossible, although the detailed allocation of the site had not yet been published.[18]

A July 2026 report stated that Reading had not been sold, its units were idle in 2025, and a decision had been made not to construct new generating units at the site. It also reported that, as of April 2026, no plan for the site had been formulated and its future remained unclear.[5]

Reading Power Station has appeared in the academic literature on environmental compliance in Israel. A 2002 study on environmental enforcement selected the station as one of four Israeli cases used to examine profits associated with noncompliance with environmental standards, identifying the Reading case as involving particulate emissions.[19] The study's available summary does not publish case-specific measurements, dates, legal proceedings, or penalties associated with the station.[19]

Sources differ on some details of the station's history. Globes reported that the station was established in 1936.[3] Ynet and Xnet describe it as built or established in 1938.[2][7] The Central Zionist Archives also dates its establishment to 1938.[11] These sources may refer to different stages in construction and commissioning, but they do not explicitly explain the discrepancy.

Capacity figures similarly vary. Globes reported approximately 450 megawatts as the station's capacity in 2006, while a 2022 Calcalist report described two generating units with a combined output of 428 megawatts.[3][4] The difference may reflect reporting dates or differing measures, but the sources do not explain it.

Plans for the site's future have also shifted over time. A 2021 report described a proposal to build 2,400 homes while preserving the single-chimney station building.[20] In January 2024, Calcalist reported a decision to end generation and build electricity-storage facilities on the site.[18] A July 2026 report subsequently stated that no plan for the site had been formulated as of April 2026.[5]