Jordan seeks firms to build renewable energy projects

AMMAN, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Jordan said Wednesday it received 16 technical and financial offers from regional and international companies to implement four solar power plants with a total capacity of 200 megawatts (MW).

The offers were submitted by Jordanian, Chinese, European and other companies from the Arab world, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

Four bidders will be selected to build solar power plants with a capacity of 50 megawatts each in Maan Development Zone, according to the ministry.

A specialized committee started assessing the offers and the winning bidders will be announced in the third quarter of this year, the ministry said.

The ministry announced Wednesday that it extended a deadline for qualified companies to submit technical and financial offers to build two wind power plants with 50 megawatts capacity each until November of this year.

The winning bidders of the 14 shortlisted companies will build the wind plants in the southern parts of the Kingdom.

According to the ministry, renewable energy projects with a total capacity of 732 megawatts were operational by the end of 2017, contributing around 7 per cent to the overall energy consumed in the country.

Jordan, which imports about 97 per cent of its energy needs annually at about 18 per cent of the gross domestic product, is implementing an energy strategy aimed at boosting renewable energy contribution to the overall energy mix from 3 per cent to 10 per cent by 2020. Enditem