JERUSALEM, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Ministry of Transport and Road Safety announced on Sunday a project to install solar and energy storage systems along Highway 6, also known as Cross Israel or Trans-Israel Highway.

       The project includes installing clean energy facilities at the highway's interchanges, connecting them to the national electricity grid, and supplying about 100 megawatts, the ministry said in a statement.

       The project will be carried out by the leading Israeli company Shikun & Binui Energy, which won a government tender with a cost of 500 million shekels (about 134 million U.S. dollars).

       The ministry noted that the project aims to produce clean energy, thereby reducing the use of expensive and polluting fossil fuels and decreasing Israel's dependence on imported oil.

       The longitudinal Trans-Israel highway runs for 192 km from the Galilee region in the north of the country to the Negev desert in the south, with plans to extend it on both ends.

       The ministry noted that the project is another step in the transition to renewable and clean energies, which also includes the gradual electrification of all trains and buses.