AMMAN — Jordan and Saudi Arabia are slated
to sign an electricity grid interconnection project agreement next month,
having set the groundwork for the Jordanian-Iraqi electrical interconnection
project on Thursday,
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh
Al-Kharabsheh told Al-Mamlaka TV Saturday.
اضافة اعلان
Kharabsheh added that electricity interconnection
projects normally benefit all parties, contribute to strengthening the
stability of the electrical system, help cover the needs of electricity in some
countries and reduce investment costs.
On Thursday,
Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh and
his Iraqi counterpart Mustafa Al-Kadhimi laid the foundation stone for the
Jordanian-Iraqi electrical interconnection project.
Kadhimi said that the grid will start operating in
June 2023.
He wrote on Twitter: “We have worked on a
comprehensive strategy and have achieved several projects in electricity; the
interconnection grid will be operational next June, following which work will
start on the interconnection line with the Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.”
He continued: “We strive for greater investment in
alternative energy, and the extraction of gas, in order to stabilize provision
of electricity in Iraq.”
The National Electric Power Company (
NEPCO) started
the implementation procedures by preparing the necessary tenders for the
construction of the new Al-Risha substation, and of the electricity line
between the station and Al-Qaim substation in Iraq.
In its first phase, the Jordanian-Iraqi electrical
interconnection project aims to provide the Iraqi side with an electric capacity
of 150 megawatts from Jordan, raise it to 500 megawatts in the second phase,
and to 900 megawatts in the third phase.
“Now that the foundation stone was laid and bids
were put forward from both sides, the project will be operational by 2023,” according to Kharabsheh, who said
preparations for the next stage to raise the line’s capacity have started.
The minister said that Jordan aims to become a
regional center for the exchange of electric energy, mainly due to its
strategic location.
Jordan has an electricity grid link with Egypt, at a
capacity of 500 megawatts, and there are technical studies that were recently
agreed upon to double the capacity of the line.
Last month, the Rama power station that supplies
Palestine was inaugurated, and the capacity of the line was raised from 40 to
80 megawatts. There is also an electricity grid connection with Syria, and then
further to
Lebanon, but the project remains on hold until financial issues are
resolved between the World Bank and Lebanon.
Green power generation
Jordan has a strategic
vision that goes beyond being a regional center for
energy exchange, to
becoming a regional center for green energy generation and energy exchange,
according to the minister, who spoke about arrangements for the exchange of
electric energy through interconnection networks, and the conversion of green
energy into green hydrogen and green ammonia, and about access to other
markets, especially in Europe.
The minister said that Jordan is one of the leading
countries in the exploitation of renewable energy; 29 percent of the total
electrical energy generated in Jordan comes from solar and wind energy sources.
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