Aqaba developer’s renewable energy project to start operating next month

AMMAN — An Aqaba-based real estate developer, which has put in place the “largest” privately owned renewable energy project, has signed a deal with an electricity provider to connect the project to the national grid.

The deal, which Ayla Oasis Development Company and the Electricity Distribution Company (EDCO) signed last Thursday, needs to have the final approval of the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission, an Ayla statement and an official at the company said.

The 3.2-megawatt (MW) solar power plant will feed the sea water pumping station with a pumping capacity of approximately 1 million cubic metres of seawater daily into lagoons covering an area of around 750 dunums that added
17km of new water frontage to Aqaba, or 52 per cent of the total water front, according to the statement.

The company official told The Jordan Times that the project will slash Ayla’s electricity bill by at least 95 per cent.

The Ayla Solar Plant is expected to be operational early next month after the actual construction has been completed, and the testing and commissioning stages are currently under way.  

Ayla is also seeking to expand its renewable energy capacity with a 2.6MW project to power desalination, irrigation and water circulation at the 18-hole golf course currently under construction. 

“With this addition, the total capacity of the two phases will reach up to 5.8MW, making it one of the largest green energy projects in the region to meet... internal power requirements,” the statement said. 

Earlier this year, His Majesty King Abdullah visited Ayla among other mega-projects in Aqaba, where he was briefed on progress in the project and its renewable energy aspect.

The first stage of the project, including infrastructure works, costs around JD450 million, of which JD250 million has already been spent.