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Solar panels in the fields of Kibbutz Revadim in the Shfela region <\/p>\n
(Photo: Courtesy of Doral)<\/p>\n
In the past, green energy was framed mainly as an environmental and ecological goal. Is it now clear that it is also an existential and economic necessity for the country?
\n\u201cIt is a genuine national necessity,\u201d he says. \u201cThe public does not always understand how critical this is, but the survivability of Israel\u2019s electricity system is a national priority that demands a dedicated strategic plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond that, the ability to generate cheap electricity today comes exclusively through renewable energy. The cheapest marginal production cost among all the alternatives in the market is solar facilities combined with storage, and that saving is passed directly on to all of our electricity bills. The more renewable energy facilities there are here, the less money we will pay in our monthly electricity bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the perfect alignment of interests: environmental, economic and crucial to energy security. Israel has abundant sunlight, and there is no logical reason not to push this sector forward with full force.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hantis\u2019 path to the CEO\u2019s office of a company worth billions was not the classic one. He was born and raised in Tel Aviv and began on the safe track of commercial law and complex litigation at the S. Horowitz law firm. But his desire, as he describes it, to create tangible value on the ground pushed him toward a surprising career turn.<\/p>\n
Today, married and a father of two, Hantis runs Doral\u2019s operations far from Rothschild Boulevard\u2019s financial district. He did not grow up in the energy world, but he now speaks like veteran executives in the sector, using phrases such as \u201cwe work for the environment, humanity and the planet,\u201d also as a way of drawing a line between their work and the exit-driven culture of high-tech entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
How did you become interested in energy? It was not your original field.
\n\u201cI began my career at the law firm in 2015,\u201d he says. \u201cIt came after a long path in which I had worked very hard to be the best I could be. I joined an excellent firm with outstanding people, and on paper, it seemed like a perfect fit. But emotionally, it simply did not work for me. It did not interest me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, I am not someone who gives up easily, so I kept going until I reached a point where I stopped and told myself something was wrong. When you do not enjoy what you do, and you wake up in the morning with no sense of purpose or excitement, you have to make a change. I decided to leave, and my arrival at Doral was entirely by chance. A friend who worked there told me about an open position, sent in my CV, and the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n 7 View gallery <\/p>\n Yoni Hantis <\/p>\n (Photo: Dana Kopel)<\/p>\n What was your first role there? From there, his climb up the management ladder was especially fast. In less than six years, Hantis was appointed CEO. \u201cSix months after I arrived at the company, I was already given management of the company\u2019s business development department,\u201d he says. \u201cI recruited about 15 people to the department, and we built a unit that functioned like the company\u2019s elite commando team,\u201d he says. \u201cThat department signed agreements worth billions with kibbutzim to build solar facilities, projects that are now being constructed and connected to the grid.<\/p>\n “After two years in that role, I was appointed deputy CEO in 2023,\u201d he says. \u201cThat position gave me a full view of the company\u2019s operations, from our international activity and work with the capital market to financing and the organization\u2019s complex financial structures. I served as deputy CEO for two years, and I am now completing my first year as CEO.\u201d<\/p>\n How has that year been for you? You were only 35 when you were appointed CEO. Did people in the industry or the market raise an eyebrow at such a fast promotion at a relatively young age? \u201cThe company is delivering exceptional results, and in the end, that is the only test I am judged by,\u201d he says. \u201cI am not someone who can settle for 95. I am always looking for the next level of excellence, and that hunger pushes the entire company forward. As long as the results speak for themselves, age becomes irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 7 View gallery <\/p>\n Advanced agriculture and solar energy production on the same land <\/p>\n (Photo: Dana Kopel)<\/p>\n His managers understood early on that he would go far in the company, but Hantis says he did not set the top job as a goal from the beginning. \u201cI did not mark becoming CEO or anything like that from the start,\u201d he says. \u201cI did not imagine that within six years I would be appointed CEO. \u201cBut I am the kind of person who always aims as high as possible. So the way I naturally work and push forward became the foundation for that appointment. It is a cycle that feeds itself.\u201d<\/p>\n When you arrive at conferences or conduct negotiations with people in the field, do you feel they look at you differently because of your age? Doral Energy Group was founded in 2007. Today it is considered one of Israel\u2019s largest and fastest-growing renewable energy companies, with significant activity in three core markets: Israel, the United States and Europe, where it has a presence in countries including Italy, Poland, Romania and Denmark. Doral operates more than 500 commercial energy sites worldwide, alongside dozens of additional projects in advanced stages of construction.<\/p>\n Green energy has become one of the hottest sectors for investors on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Alongside Doral, companies such as Enlight and Ofer Yannay\u2019s Nofar Energy also posted sharp gains over the past year.<\/p>\n So what drove Doral\u2019s stock to deliver huge returns for investors, soaring by hundreds of percent in a relatively short time and in the middle of a war? For Hantis, the secret is simple. \u201cWe did exactly what we said we would do,\u201d he says. \u201cThe market saw that we were meeting our grand work plans. Doral built and is building projects of enormous scale. Today in Israel, we hold nearly 50% of the solar projects combined with storage that are connected to the country\u2019s electricity system.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce the capital market sees that we are keeping our promises, and that in the United States we are building three of the five largest energy facilities on the continent, including one facility whose area is equal in size to the entire city of Tel Aviv, it creates deep confidence in our future growth potential.\u201d<\/p>\n What sets you apart? After all, there are many companies in the field offering similar solutions. “Now we are also accelerating our activity in Europe with storage systems entering the market. The combination of an orderly work plan, meeting targets, transparency, trust and innovation is what creates high value for shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Israel\u2019s electricity sector in 2026 remains overwhelmingly dependent on fossil fuels, above all natural gas. About 70% of the country\u2019s electricity is produced by gas-fired power stations supplied by the Tamar, Leviathan and Karish fields, while polluting coal still accounts for a small but persistent share.<\/p>\n Renewable energy, mainly solar, barely reaches 15% to 18% of national production, compared with Western Europe, where the average is more than 50%. The figure is significantly lower than the government\u2019s original targets and places Israel in deep structural lag compared with OECD countries. In practice, Israel ranks last among Western countries in the use of renewable energy.<\/p>\n What is your long-term vision for the company? Where is the global market heading? <\/p>\n 7 View gallery <\/p>\n Doral Group solar panels in Kibbutz Gvar’am <\/p>\n (Photo: Courtesy of Doral)<\/p>\n \u201cTo meet the enormous future demand for electricity, driven in part by AI, the world will have to double, triple and even quadruple current energy production,\u201d he says. \u201cDoral has built a highly efficient machine that knows how to develop this kind of infrastructure, and it can go very far. In the United States, there are energy companies that have been operating for a century, trade at enormous valuations and supply power to entire cities and states. That is the kind of scale we are aiming for.\u201d<\/p>\n How much does Israeli regulation really understand the immediate need for green energy? \u201cThe Electricity Authority recognized that need early and created regulatory frameworks that encourage and enable storage,\u201d he says. \u201cDoral leads the field in Israel, with about 1,700 megawatt-hours of storage connected or under construction. That is the equivalent of two conventional power stations distributed across the country, and we will continue accelerating construction.\u201d<\/p>\n Doral works with many communities near the Gaza border. The events of October 7 put that work at risk, but it quickly became clear that even facilities in areas that were hit continued operating. \u201cOctober 7 was a shattering human event that hurt us in the most painful places,\u201d Hantis says. \u201cKerem Shalom, Holit, Nahal Oz, Kfar Aza, Alumim, Sa\u2019ad. We lost partners and people we knew personally.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, from the professional perspective, we saw that our solar facilities in all those kibbutzim continued working and showed phenomenal survivability. Even facilities that were hit continued operating because the facility is built in independent rows, so in the worst case one row is damaged and the rest continue producing energy without interruption.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 7 View gallery <\/p>\n Yoni Hantis<\/p>\n (Photo: Dana Kopel)<\/p>\n You talk about agriculture and energy as real Zionism. Is that not a cynical use of the word Zionism? \u201cNow, as we build the largest agrivoltaic facility in the Gaza border area at Kibbutz Alumim, that is true Zionism in the fullest sense of the word, without a hint of cynicism,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is a massive facility that produces green electricity while also allowing avocado orchards to grow on the same plot of land.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I stood there two months ago, just 100 meters from the building where people were burned and murdered, and saw the panels producing cheap electricity alongside renewed agriculture, it was deeply moving. It filled me with enormous pride in our hold on the land.<\/p>\n \u201cWe feel today that the regulator also understands these projects must be supported and advanced much faster,\u201d he says. \u201cIt takes time, but in the Gaza border area alone, Doral is currently advancing no fewer than three mega-projects considered national strategic assets. Instead of each kibbutz trying to operate on its own and on a limited scale, we created a broad regional partnership among several kibbutzim in a shared project that combines advanced agriculture with solar production. This model creates a major advantage of scale, supports local agriculture and effectively establishes regional green power stations that will supply clean electricity across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n How much do you see those communities as real business partners, rather than suppliers of available land? What exactly do the communities and kibbutzim gain from this model?![\"\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ryHXjgPZMg_0_0_3000_1999_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Yoni")
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\n\u201cI joined in 2020 as business development manager,\u201d he says. \u201cDoral was then a small company with 25 to 30 people, only about two months after its initial public offering. It was already a public company, but was still taking its first steps. It took me only a few months to understand that Doral confirmed everything I had been looking for: a place that gives you all the tools and freedom to run forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cExceptionally challenging and fascinating,\u201d he says. \u201cThe ability to influence both the people doing the work on the ground and broad strategic processes is enormous,\u201d he says. \u201cI take this role with great humility, but I feel very comfortable in it. I believe we are working the right way, that Doral is moving in exactly the right direction and that I have a strong team around me. It is demanding, all-consuming work, but there is tremendous satisfaction in doing something that has a positive impact on humanity and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cNot to my face,\u201d he says. \u201cI am sure there were people who thought such things, but the move itself was completely natural. As the deputy CEO who had been running alongside the previous CEO for a long time, it was only natural that I step into the shoes of Yaki Noyman, who after 12 years in the role moved to serve as vice chairman.<\/p>\n![\"\u05e9\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05d1](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/rkMrXoxPWfe_0_0_3000_2000_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Advanced")
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\n\u201cNo, I do not think so. I have already been in the role for a year,\u201d he says. \u201cThe market already knows me, and ultimately, once the discussion moves beyond the first 10 seconds and people start talking about the substance, that is what is tested in the room. So no, for me it is not an issue at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDoral\u2019s story is built on constant creativity and innovation,\u201d he says. \u201cWe were the first to connect a storage facility in Israel, the first to establish an agrivoltaic facility and the first to lead storage projects in urban areas and in the municipal sector, working with local authorities, where we have won most of the tenders.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe are only at the beginning of the road,\u201d Hantis says. \u201cThe world is undergoing a historic process of dramatic change in electricity consumption. Energy companies that know how to act correctly will reach values and places no one imagined in the past. We are investing billions of shekels in projects that generate stable cash flow for decades.<\/p>\n![\"\u05e4\u05d0\u05e0\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HyMoPhVC3_0_0_3000_1688_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Doral")
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\n\u201cThere is broad recognition that solar energy is the cheapest option and strengthens energy security, but it has one built-in limitation: the sun sets in the evening, just as household electricity demand peaks between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. To bridge that gap, storage batteries are essential, allowing electricity generated during the day to be shifted into the evening hours.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/rJVS7ilDbGe_0_0_3000_2000_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Yoni")
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\n\u201cToday, it is completely clear to us that the economic revival of the Gaza border communities and the north will depend in large part on renewable energy,\u201d he says. \u201cIt gives them fixed, stable and high income over time, making it a critical engine of growth and economic rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThey are our partners in every sense,\u201d he says. \u201cWe establish joint companies with the communities under 50-50 ownership. This model allows them to fully enjoy the economic benefit of our entrepreneurship and knowledge, while we benefit from access to their land resources. Doral is now a partner of almost 90% of the kibbutzim in Israel and hundreds of moshavim.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cFirst and foremost, they hold half the ownership of a corporation that generates high and fixed income from selling electricity for decades,\u201d he says. \u201cSecond, the combination of an agrivoltaic project dramatically upgrades the community\u2019s existing agricultural activity. Once the solar project is integrated into it, the stable cash flow from electricity allows the kibbutz to invest in the most advanced agricultural technologies, industrial shading systems, cooling technologies for orchards and data-based irrigation systems that simply would not exist without this financing. It is a complete win-win model.\u201d<\/p>\n
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