‘15 companies to submit bids for $150m solar power plant’

AMMAN — Jordan has prequalified 15 local and international companies to build a $150 million solar-run power plant, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said Saturday.

The 65-75 megawatt solar-fuelled power plant will be located in Qweira in the southern Governorate of Aqaba, Haidar Gammaz, the ministry’s spokesperson, told The Jordan Times over the phone.

The companies include First Solar Electric LLC; Spain’s 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, according to a list posted on the ministry’s website.

Following the submission of technical and financial offers, committees will be formed to look into the bids after which the winning bidder will be announced.

“This is one of the important projects for Jordan and part of its strategy towards further adoption of renewable energy,” Gammaz said.

The project will be funded from the $5 billion Gulf Cooperation Council grant, he added.

Several renewable energy projects with a total capacity of 1,800 megawatts will be connected to the national power grid by the end of 2018, according to the ministry.

Jordan, which imports 97 per cent of its energy needs annually, is implementing a strategy to increase the contribution of renewable energy to the overall energy mix to 10 per cent by 2020.