No privatisation of NEPCO — EMRC

AQABA — There will be no privatisation of the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO), according to Mohammad Maayah, director of the Directorate of Electricity and Renewable Energy at the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC).

“Worldwide regulations stipulate that the national electricity carrier is better to be owned by the government,” Maayah said during a two-day  media tour organised by the EMRC which kicked off in Aqaba on Wednesday.

Maayah added that electricity generating companies in Jordan are owned by the private sector, except for Samara Company, with a generating capacity of 1241 megawatts, (33 per cent participation rate in conventional generation).

According to Maayah, the Qatrana power plant has a capacity of 370 megawatts, and its participation rate in conventional generation is approximately 10 per cent.

“There are three electricity distribution companies in Jordan in the three regions,” he added.

Head of the Renewable Energy Department at the EMRC Ahmad Al Khataybeh said that Jordan was one of the first countries in the MENA region to set the legal framework related to investment in the field of renewable energy back in 2012.

“The government allowed investment in the field of renewable energy, whether to sell energy or to cover private consumption, as well as enhancing Jordan's dependence on local renewable energy sources,” Khataybeh said.

He said that there were 11 renewable energy projects which launched back in 2013/2014 with a generating capacity of 204 megawatts, which are the first phase projects, and there were more projects since then in different areas of the Kingdom.

Khataybeh said that companies and banks were allowed to cover their energy consumption with renewable energy, which many companies have adopted since then.

“Jordan has reached a remarkable level of the volume of electricity generated from renewable energy sources and connected to the current network,” he added, noting that the volume connected to the network reached 2,600 megawatts, “which is a big number”.

“The electricity distribution companies should not fight renewable energy or delay the issuance of approvals,” Khataybeh said.

The energy sector strategy, which was approved in 2020 for a period of 10years, aims to increase the contribution of renewable energy in electric energy to 3,000 megawatts by 2030, Khataybeh noted, highlighting that Jordan is “on the right track to achieve the strategy”

There are many projects to generate electricity from wind in Tafileh, Maan and Shoubak, with a total capacity of 620 megawatts, according to Khataybeh.