Projects boost renewable energy sector — Zawati

AMMAN — The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry on Thursday said that it presents 28 services to citizens, which constitutes added value to the national economy.

Its services include providing beneficiaries of the national Aid Fund with solar cells to generate electricity, with funds secured from Fils Al Reef.

Fils Al Reef is a fee added to each kilowatt a household uses and was initially introduced with the aim of financing the installation of power cells in remote areas.

In a report about its services for the first half of the year, the ministry said a total of 5,329 families that meet the conditions have applied to benefit from services, according to a ministry statement.

The services include connecting households in remote areas to the electricity grid through Fils Al Reef, where a total of 820 families have benefited from this service. 

The ministry has also prepared 27 studies covering geological, geophysical and petrographic fields, where 36 service recipients benefited from services of selling maps, geological reports, digital maps and data on petroleum archive. 

The ministry’s Jordan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund (JREEEF) has also contributed to installing solar cells for 66 places of worship and public departments, as well as supporting the installation of 2,150 solar heaters for underprivileged families, which contributed to reducing their power bills.

Over the past four years, JREEEF has implemented JD50 million worth of renewable energy projects, ministry figures showed in May.

Energy Minister Hala Zawati then said that the projects were intended to boost the renewable energy sector’s contribution to the overall energy mix.

The JREEEF contributed JD19 million, while the rest of the sum was from donors and project owners, the minister noted.  

The JREEEF is the executive arm of the ministry and targets residential houses to facilitate the shift to renewable energy resources as a sustainable source for electricity and to reduce the subsidy bill presented by the government.