Zawati inaugurates Daehan wind power plant

AMMAN — Energy Minister Hala Zawati on Saturday inaugurated the 50-megawatt Daehan wind power plant in Tafileh, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The Daehan project was developed by two Korean sponsors, KOSPO and Daelim Energy. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) provided a $10 million loan and also acted as lead arranger, mobilising parallel loans of $26 million from Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Programme, $27.7 million from the Standard Chartered Bank and $8 million from Korea’s Shinhan Bank. 

The IFC had previously facilitated the country’s renewable energy programme with financing and investment solutions. The IFC has so far invested over $300 million across 13 renewable projects.

During the inauguration ceremony, Zawati said the project fell within the government's plans to diversify energy resources and reduce costs.

She also said that the government's focus on local and environmentally-friendly resources aimed at reducing the country's reliance on external energy. Zawati said that renewable energy’s contribution to Jordan’s energy sources will amount to 20 per cent by 2020, Petra said.

The minster pointed out that 2018 will witness the implementation of the power strategy endorsed in 2007 through utilising solar and wind power to generate 1,600 megawatts and 2,400 megawatts in 2019 and 2020 respectively, Petra said.

Seoul Ambassador to Jordan Bom-yon Lee cited the two Korean developers KOSPO and Daelim Energy as expecting the project to be linked to the national grid by 2020.