Jordan pre-qualifies 15 for solar power plant

The Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has announced that 15 teams have been shortlisted to develop a 65 - 75 MW solar power plant in Qweira in the southern Governorate of Aqaba.The list of shortlisted companies includes among others:

• First Solar Electric LLC;
• Elecnor S.A.;
• SunEdison Italia Construction S.r.l;
• China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Co. LTD;
• Dongfang Electric International Corporation;
• Isolux Ingenieria and Guangdong Power Engineering Corporation of China Energy Engineering Group Co. LTD; and
• Zhuhai Singyes Green Building Technology Co. Ltd

The total project investment is estimated at US$150 million. It will be backed by the US$5 billion Gulf Cooperation Council grant.

According to the Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the country intends to connect multiple renewable energy projects, totaling 1800 MW, to the national power grid by the end of 2018, according to the ministry. Commenting on the project, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources spokesperson Haidar Gammaz stated:

"This is one of the important projects for Jordan and part of its strategy towards further adoption of renewable energy."

Jordan, which imports 97 per cent of its power requirements annually, wants to derive 10% of its total energy requirements from renewable resources by 2020.