Jordan strives for 50 per cent electricity generation from renewables — official

AMMAN — Though Jordan’s energy sector strategy, announced in 2020, set a goal to raise the percentage of renewable energy contribution to electricity generation to 31 per cent by 2030, the Kingdom is continuing efforts to increase this rate to 50 per cent, Secretary-General of Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Amani Azzam said on Wednesday.

Azzam’s remarks came while delivering Jordan’s speech, as co-president of Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), at the opening of the annual meeting of UfM energy platforms, which began its activities in the Spanish city of Barcelona on Wednesday, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported citing a ministry statement.

“Jordan is currently revisiting its comprehensive strategy for the energy sector to achieve the new target, and working to support transformation projects towards electric transmission and green hydrogen production,” Azzam said.

Jordan, she noted, has begun to implement the required technical, legislative and strategic steps in this direction.

Jordan, while striving to achieve this goal, takes into account the need for strengthening its electrical network and enhancing its stability by shifting towards smart grids, establishing projects to store electric energy and implementing and expanding electrical interconnection projects with neighbouring countries and the world, Azzam noted.

The time has come to “optimally” benefit from all available tools and technologies to overcome technical challenges of renewable energy, she said.

Highlighting the achievements of Jordan’s energy sector, she said that the Kingdom’s solar and wind energy generation projects amounted to about 2.6 gigawatts, which contributed to approximately 27 per cent of the total electrical energy consumed in the Kingdom.

The contribution of renewable energy to the total electrical energy consumption did not exceed 1 per cent until 2014, and gradually increased, she said.

Due to this achievement, Jordan, according to 2022 Arab Future Energy Index, which was prepared by the Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, ranked first in the region in terms of the installed capacity of renewable energy sources to generate electricity without hydropower, Azzam said.