Kingdom to become renewable energy regional leader — PM

AMMAN — Jordan is expected to be the second Arab country, after Morocco, in producing power from renewable energy sources, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said on Sunday, citing major projects under way or in the pipeline.

The premier told the House during a meeting Sunday that a tender will be floated “this month or next month” for a project to generate 400 megawatt (MW) of electricity, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Ensour also announced that another 1000MW green energy project will be implemented in partnership with the UAE, starting the end of 2014. 

Emphasising that renewable energy is “Jordan’s hope”, the premier said that his government has floated tenders to 12 companies to develop renewable grid-connected electricity production projects, adding that these companies will generate around 5 per cent of the Kingdom’s electricity consumption when the projects are completed.

“These companies have already embarked on their mission and the government has achieved considerable progress in renewable energy technology,” Ensour said.

Present at the meeting was Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Mohammad Hamed, who said that the government is in the process of floating tenders to produce 465MW of non-renewable energy from oil shale.

He was apparently referring to a stalled $2.1 billion deal with an Estonian-Malaysian consortium, delayed because of disagreement over the price of electricity to be provided by the investor. 

In previous remarks, Hamed said that starting in 2018, Jordan’s energy sector will start to reap the fruits of the multibillion-dinar projects that entail producing oil locally and generating electricity using clean techniques.

Jordan currently imports about 96 per cent of its energy needs costing annually about 20 per cent of the gross domestic product.