AMMAN – Jordan is set to receive $300 million from the Gulf states to boost investment in renewable energy, officials say, as Amman looks to solar and wind power as potential solutions to the country's chronic energy woes, The Jordan Times reported Tuesday. According to Minister of Energy and Transportation Alaa Batayneh, some $300 million of a $5 billion grant from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has been earmarked for a series of solar and wind energy projects in southern Jordan expected to produce over 125 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Batayneh said the money, set to be secured by the ministry next year, would fund some 50-75MW of solar power and 75-100MW of wind power projects in Maan and Aqaba governorates. The GCC aid, decided at a meeting of the Gulf states last December, includes $1.25 billion each from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar, and will support development projects in the Kingdom over a period of five years. The $300 million is the latest in a string of international assistance agreements for clean energy in Jordan, including a $112 million loan Jordan secured from the World Bank in July to support the establishment of a 100MW concentrated solar power plant. “These funds will help Jordan develop its one true energy solution: solar and wind,” he said. As part of its efforts to boost renewable energy's contribution to the Kingdom's energy mix from 1 to 10 percent by the end of the decade, the ministry has embarked on advanced talks with 29 local and international companies to implement over 1,000MW in solar and wind energy projects. Amman is currently working with the short-listed firms to set prices for electricity produced by the small- to medium-scale projects, which average around 50MW per initiative, in order to seal final agreements by the first quarter of 2013. — Agencies
