Jordanian engineer awarded Energy Innovator of the Year 2017

AMMAN — Maher Maymoun, a 28-year-old Jordanian engineer, has been chosen as the recipient of the international Energy Innovator of the Year award, granted by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE).

Founded in the US in 1977, the AEE is a non-profit, professional society of over 18,000 members present in more than 100 countries, whose mission is “to promote the scientific and educational interests of those engaged in the energy industry and to foster action for sustainable development”, according to the association’s website.

The engineer will be honoured on September 27 at the World Energy Engineering Congress’ 2017 Conference and Expo. The event will be held in Georgia, US, with hundreds of businesses and specialists in the field of energy expected to attend.

In an interview with The Jordan Times on Saturday, Maymoun said he is “proud to be representing the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in this global event”.

The award recognises Maymoun’s work in addressing the issue of dust accumulation on solar panels during the summer months, creating a self-cleaning, slated vibratory surface that eliminates the need to wash the panels with water in order to remove the dust.

The technology was developed with Tala Naswareen, partner of Maymoum at the company Solar Piezo Clean.

Nasraween and Maymoun were participants in the Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition in 2015, where they won first prize in the pre-start-up category for the same project.

“For me, this award means a recognition of the effort and the hardwork I have put in over the last five years,” Maymoun explained, adding that “this project has witnessed huge progress in the past year, and this award proves that it has the potential to improve the renewable energy sector at a global level”. 

When asked about the future of his project, the young engineer said that the project is currently in its testing phase, explaining that the system is “yet to prove its efficiency” in many different locations prior to the implementation by solar panel manufacturers.

“However”, he continues, “the lack of sufficient financial support presents a major handicap when it comes to moving onto the commercial stage,” explaining that the testing phase requires a huge amount of funds.