Agriculture Ministry to switch to solar power

AMMAN — The Ministry of Agriculture’s headquarters on Queen Rania Street is due to switch to solar power later this year to reduce its electricity bill, a government official said on Wednesday.

The ministry is in the process of designing the project, according to its spokesperson Nimer Haddadin, who said they expect implementation to start during the last quarter of this year.

“The project will be implemented by a local company, in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Works and Housing,” he told The Jordan Times.

Haddadin noted that the ministry is also switching to renewable energy in several of its projects, indicating that power consumption at the ministry will drastically drop once the solar panels project becomes operational.

Several ministries and public agencies are shifting to solar power to reduce the country’s reliance on non-renewable energy sources. The Ministry of Water and Irrigation’s headquarters in Shmeisani started running on solar power in 2015, reducing its monthly electricity bill by 40 per cent since then.

Haddadin indicated that, although the agriculture ministry is not one of the biggest consumers of energy, its plans for shifting to solar power seeks to encourage others to explore renewable energy in a bid to ultimately reduce the Kingdom’s energy bill.

Jordan has one of the highest annual daily averages of solar irradiance in the world, with 330 days of sunshine per year. The Kingdom also has significant amounts of untapped wind energy, with wind speeds as high as 7.5 metres per second and up to 11.5 metres per second in hilly areas, according to experts.

Despite these advantages, renewable energy currently contributes less than 1 per cent of Jordan’s energy mix.