EMRC awards 25-year licence to power generation project in Zarqa

AMMAN — The Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC) on Wednesday granted a 25-year licence to the electricity generation project at Al Hussein Thermal Power Station in Zarqa, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The licence was signed by EMRC Chief Commissioner Farouq Hiyari, who said the project’s 485-megawatt capacity covers around 11 per cent of total generation capacity in the Kingdom, Petra reported. 

He said the station is composed of four units, three working with natural gas as their main fuel and diesel as an alternative, while the fourth uses steam. 

Hiyari expected the commercial operations of the first gas unit to begin in September 2017. The other two gas-fuelled units will be operational in October and November 2017, while the steam unit will begin commercial operations in May 2018. 

The EMRC chief stressed the project’s importance of providing new generation capacities depending on natural gas as the main fuel and diesel as the alternative to face the increasing demand on energy expected in 2017 and 2018. 

He said the licence was issued in accordance with the law, stressing that the EMRC is managing the energy sector’s updates and laws to encourage investment in it.