SPECIAL FEATURE
OPEC Fund total commitment: US$20 million Operation Implementation: Completed
OFQ : Since these early days, Jordan has come a long way. SJ: The country really benefited not just from cheaper electricity, but also from the change of course. Today everything has to be energy e ffi cient, green and renewable. It is no longer an option, it is a must. If your factory does not have a green certificate, your markets are going to be very limited. Everybody needs a clean bill of health. And Jordan is now a frontrunner in the renewable energy sector. OFQ : What is the share of renewables in Jordan today? SJ: Today it is 27 percent. Because of our success, we raised our goals from 30 percent renewables in the energy mix by 2030 to 50 percent, because we almost reached the 30 percent in 2023 already. We have to be a bit more ambitious. OFQ : With such a huge share, how do you secure a stable base load? The wind does not always blow, the sun does not always shine and 50 percent cannot easily be substituted . SJ: We definitely cannot reach the 50 percent target before we have other solutions. The two ways forward are storage and interconnectivity. We are working on an interconnection line with our neighbors Iraq and Saudi Arabia. We have a small interconnection line with Jericho in the West Bank and we have interconnectivity with Egypt. Once we have everything in place, we will reach 60 or 70 percent.
Oman. Many Jordanian developers, engineers and technical teams are now working in countries across the region, developing and delivering similar renewables projects. Our success has been built from scratch: Back in 2010, there was almost zero investment in renewables. There were few engineers in renewables. There was no sector, there was no legislation and there were no environmental standards for such projects. OFQ : Have Jordanian customers also benefited? SJ: Everywhere in our capital Amman today you will see solar panels on the rooftops of houses, apartment buildings, factories, hospitals, military installations and government o ffi ces. I was one of the first people to put a solar installation on the rooftop of my house back in 2012. I paid US$50,000 for it. Today I can have the same system for US$7,000 and I will not need to bring a company from Germany to install it. There are more than 1,200 Jordanian companies with local engineers in the sector and they can o ff er a wide range of options. In less than 15 years, we have created a US$4 billion sector.
“Everywhere in Amman today you will see solar panels on the rooftops of houses, apartment buildings, factories, hospitals and government o ffi ces.” Samer Judeh, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Jordan Wind Project Company
Photo: JWPC
OFQ : Given your track record, do you foresee the possibility for technology transfer to a neighboring country? SJ: We already had successful examples of technology transfers in the past. Our sponsors, for instance, provided technical and financial support through their professional teams who have worked on similar projects in di ff erent places. This support continues. Today Tafila attracts many visitors who want to study and copy our success. We welcome this. Most recently we hosted a delegation from
Photo: JWPC
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