‘Gov’t to announce winning bidder for $150m solar plant soon’

AMMAN — Jordan will announce the winning bidder to build a $150 million solar-fuelled power plant in the south within two weeks, according to Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed.

The solar plant, which will be located in Al Qweira area in the south, will have a total capacity of 65 megawatts, the minister told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

"The plant is part of a series of solar projects the Kingdom will be implementing in the next few years to increase reliance on local resources," he said.

It will be funded by part of the $5 billion grant the Gulf Cooperation Council countries decided to extend to Jordan in 2011, he said.

"The ministry is currently in the process of assessing financial and technical offers submitted by several international companies and the winning bidder is expected to be announced in early August," he added.

The plant is expected to be connected to the grid by the end of 2015 and will be built on the basis of engineering, procurement and construction, said Hamed. 

"By the end of 2015, we will have several renewable energy projects with total capacity of 500 megawatts already connected to the grid."

Jordan, which imports about 96 per cent of its energy needs annually, has one of the highest annual daily averages of solar irradiance in the world with an estimated 330 days of sunshine per year.

The Kingdom is implementing several renewable energy projects as part of its strategy to boost the contribution of domestic energy resources from the current 2 per cent to 20 per cent of the energy mix by 2020.