Two wind power plants in Jordan with a total capacity of 100 megawatts (MW) will be complete and connected to the grid by 2019, sources say.
The first 50MW plant will be implemented by the Korea Southern Power Company Ltd. and Daelim Energy Company Ltd in the Tafileh, Southwest of Amman, at a cost of $110 million, reported the Jordan Times.
"We will borrow from the International Finance Corporation and the Islamic Development Bank to implement the project," Cheol Kim, senior manager of the renewable development team at Daelim Energy Company, told The Jordan Times after the signing of the power purchase agreement with the government.
"We chose to invest in Jordan due to its strategic location, and the wind speed in [the Kingdom is] very suitable for wind plants… Korean companies have invested a lot in the energy sector in Jordan," Kim said, adding that construction on the plant is scheduled to start in 2017 and be completed by 2019.
A unit owned by Saudi Arabia's Xenel Industries will build another $100 million, 50MW wind power plant in Tafileh, under another agreement signed Thursday, Abour Energy, according to one of the companies involved in the project.
The wind plant will be financed through loans from the Islamic Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation.
Fereydoon Abtahi, general manager of Abour Energy, told The Jordan Times in an interview on the sidelines of the deal's signing: "We will begin construction in 2017, and it will be completed by 2019," Abtahi said.
Renewable energy projects in Jordan contribute 3-4 per cent to the national electricity grid, and the figure is scheduled to reach 10 per cent by 2020.
Jordan is expected to have solar and wind projects of a total capacity of 1,600MW.
The Jordan Times
3 April
