renewable energy on rise in resourcepoor jordan
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Renewable energy on rise in resource-poor Jordan

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Renewable energy on rise in resource-poor Jordan

Jordan is fast becoming a regional hub of solar development.
- Arab Today

Set atop a mosque in the south of Jordan’s capital, dozens of shimmering solar panels reflect a growing trend in the resource-poor desert kingdom as it tries combat its heavy reliance on imported energy.


Standing in front of the Hamdan Al-Qara mosque, Sheikh Adnan Yahya says that before installing the panels he used to pay up to 13,000 dinars ($18,350, 15,500 euros) a year for electricity.


“The bill has now dropped to almost zero,” says the imam.


With panels popping up on the rooftops of homes, schools, hotels and factories across Jordan, the growing popularity of solar power is easy to spot.


The dishes and other desert-based solar fields are part of the kingdom’s drive to steer the country away from foreign energy and toward renewable options available domestically.


Jordan imports nearly 98 percent of its energy needs, and has long relied on gas, heavy fuel oil and diesel to run its power plants.
Each year, it pays more than $4.5 billion on oil imports alone, according to official data.


Public debt exceeds more than $40 billion in Jordan, rocked this summer by rare anti-austerity protests.


But a government plan to make clean energy 20 percent of the country’s overall power consumption by 2020 has seen alternative energy projects skyrocket in recent years.


At the beginning of this year, a set of 140 panels were affixed to the top of Sheikh Yahya’s mosque at a cost of $45,000 — generating nearly 44 kilowatts of energy.


The installation powers the 1,500-person capacity place of prayer, its 50 air conditioners, 35 fans, 120 lamps, 32 cameras and sound system.


“In the past, worshippers would complain about the heat in the summer and ask us to turn up the air conditioners. But now they tell us: ‘Turn it down, we’re freezing!’” the white-bearded sheikh says with a broad smile.


The Hamdan Al-Qara is one of 380 mosques and churches across Jordan that have been supplied with solar-power systems in the past five years, according to the energy ministry.


Last year, solar plants were opened at the Syrian refugee camps of Zaatari and Azraq, providing tens of thousands of people with free and clean electricity.


In Maan province, the kingdom’s largest which stretches from the south of the capital west to the border with Saudi Arabia, 11 renewable energy projects have been launched since 2012.
They include the Shams Maan solar plant.


Managed by a consortium of companies including Jordan’s Kawar investment group, Qatar’s Nebras Power and Japan’s Mitsubishi, the $170 million project generates 52.5 megawatts of electricity — one percent of the country’s electricity production.
“Solar energy will help Jordan save on the price of fuel purchased from abroad in hard currency and help it to be self-reliant in power generation,” said Hanna Zaghloul, Kawar’s chief executive.


“Jordan is eligible for such vital projects and the results are very encouraging. Solar energy is available 320 days a year and provides hundreds of jobs,” he said.


With 640,000 panels set up across a two-square-kilometer area, Shams Maan is the largest project of its kind in Jordan, added Zaghloul.


“God gave us the sun and the wind, which is a local energy, the more we use it, the more we become dependent on ourselves,” says Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Hala Zawati.


According to her, Jordan is “witnessing a rapid qualitative leap in the field of renewable energy.”
Before 2012 there were no renewable energy options, laws or regulations in the kingdom.


But today, wind and solar power contribute “seven percent of the electricity consumed in Jordan,” she said.
And as it becomes more prevalent, the cost of renewable energy production has dropped too.


“Today, a kilowatt of solar energy costs about four cents, which is less than half the cost of oil derivatives, and this is steadily decreasing,” said Zawati.


The former minister of state for economic affairs, Yusuf Mansur, says Jordan “must take advantage of this clean, cheap and widely available energy.”


Current projects “contribute to efforts to balance the budget and will lead the state toward more energy independence,” he said.


From: Arabnews

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

renewable energy on rise in resourcepoor jordan renewable energy on rise in resourcepoor jordan

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

renewable energy on rise in resourcepoor jordan renewable energy on rise in resourcepoor jordan

 



GMT 10:06 2012 Saturday ,28 July

Querrey advances at ATP LA Open

GMT 21:15 2017 Thursday ,01 June

Trump condemns deadly Kabul explosion

GMT 02:15 2017 Thursday ,24 August

Is your country on the Qatar free entry list of 80?

GMT 19:48 2016 Monday ,03 October

Controversial boxing champ Tyson Fury retires

GMT 08:20 2015 Tuesday ,08 December

PC market woes show no sign of easing

GMT 17:27 2017 Tuesday ,25 April

20 Yemeni soldiers killed, injured in explosion

GMT 11:52 2017 Saturday ,30 December

OIC condemns Mar Mina Church attack

GMT 00:03 2017 Saturday ,25 March

Arab Meeting to Examine Anti-Corruption Methods

GMT 13:12 2017 Thursday ,20 April

Deputy premier meets Arab League chief

GMT 14:13 2014 Friday ,10 January

Opel Astra GTC

GMT 18:27 2016 Tuesday ,02 August

Turkish Foreign Minister arrives in Islamabad

GMT 11:27 2016 Tuesday ,13 December

Saudi woman arrested for challenging social norms

GMT 19:56 2017 Thursday ,09 March

Qatar Pavilion Opens at ITB Berlin

GMT 23:34 2013 Thursday ,07 February

New BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo

GMT 12:57 2017 Friday ,13 October

JPMorgan open to digital money if regulated

GMT 04:38 2017 Friday ,10 March

ADNOC opens fifth ADNOC Xpress

GMT 10:30 2017 Friday ,10 November

BDF military contingent honoured

GMT 17:37 2017 Tuesday ,24 January

China jails former Sinopec president for graft

GMT 19:34 2017 Sunday ,14 May

Austria centre-right calls for snap elections

GMT 14:54 2014 Saturday ,29 November

Wall cladding, wallpaper, fabric and wood!
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday