Dearest friends and colleagues,

I have seen the day of my departure and handover coming for months and I have developed in my mind a million beginnings to a farewell message … none of them landed safely on paper. Now this mission will suffer no further delay.  I offer these thoughts, born of emotion, perhaps random in sequence but coherent in context and purpose.

The photo albums and the video clips … did they capture a dream or was it real?

One minute I was evaluating CSP in the Alstom portfolio … the next minute I was leading a BOT project in Israel with CSP Tower technology.

2014 in Paris preparing to move my family to Israel … 2019 in Israel preparing to move my family to Paris.

It was a dream - but it really happened.

To return as an adult nearing age 50, to the place I left behind as a child of 5 (in 1971) … improbable travel through a time machine in a science fiction movie.

To re-discover a special land full of sweet memories, dear people now departed, new faces (8 million !), a skyline where once stood only low-rise buildings.

An open space, rolling desert hills dormant for centuries and millennia … an old man dreamed they will come to life, blossoming in a time-lapse instant.

50,000 mirrors performing a deliberate dance in slow-motion around an iconic tower that sprouted out of the ground, from nowhere.

A project to harness the limitless power of the sun … a project fighting to keep away the clouds, literal and figurative.

Poetic words spoken and written to inspire, motivate, unite … while angry words discourage, frustrate, and divide.

One thousand anonymous hands, a symphony of languages, a multitude of trades: each performing a narrow task, together purposefully building a great “cathedral” to shine a light for generations to come.

Megalim: the biblical birth of the greater light to govern the day … Megalim: modern Hebrew for “discoverers.”

Mega-projects are defined by the sum of their constraints … the engineer twists the laws of nature to breaking point to render the impossible dream feasible.

Surrounded by a most extraordinary group of individuals … I have drawn many GWh of energy and bathed in expert knowledge throughout our many interactions.

We shared laughter, we overdosed on coffee (or Mate) and waffle cookies, we expressed gratitude for magical sunsets, we celebrated … never enough.

We traveled together on the emotional journey of creating anything great (see graphic).

European manners (cuff link shirts!) meet Middle East chutzpah … and the result is fruitful cooperation.

Each of you made my personal journey significant and has left a permanent imprint on me: SPC, EPC, O&M, SEA, RNRC, MOD, Ashalim, Bedouin to name just a few … I am forever grateful to you all and wear our project, our friendships, our accomplishments as a badge of pride. It has been my unique privilege to lead and to serve you.

Every end (Construction) is a beginning (Operation), every smile gives birth to a tear, every tear makes space for a smile.

I leave you with my favourite greeting at the parting of our paths - I heard it first at my university graduation 1988. Rather than goodbye, the greeting bestows all manner of good wishes … until we meet again !

Travel well and God speed to you all,

- Eran

Upcoming CSP events:

4th Annual CSP Focus MENA 2019（Jun.26-27, Dubai）

3rd CSP Focus Innovation 2019（Oct.24-25, China）

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