AES Jordan Secures OPIC Funding For New Power Plant
The US government�s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) announced on 17 September the approval of $270mn in financing for the construction of a 240mw power plant in Jordan to provide reliable energy during peak usage periods. OPIC said that AES Levant Holdings BV Jordan (AES Jordan), an affiliate of Virginia-based AES Corporation, will use the OPIC investment guaranty to build and operate a tri-fuel power plant on an unused portion of the �Amman East Power project site 15 miles outside �Amman.
The AES Jordan venture is owned by AES and Japan�s Mitsui, and has already built a $300mn, 380mw capacity combined cycle gas turbine plant at the �Amman East Power site under Jordan�s first independent power project (IPP), which was inaugurated in 2009 (MEES, 2 November 2009). OPIC provided a $70mn loan to this project in January 2007. The plant was intended to run on natural gas supplied by Egypt via the Arab Gas Pipeline (AGP), but can also run on diesel. This has proved useful since the supply from Egypt has dwindled and become increasingly erratic since the overthrow of the Husni Mubarak regime in early 2011.
OPIC said that electricity generated by the new �peaker plant� � it will provide electricity during periods of peak usage, such as evenings and summer months � will be taken by Jordan�s National Electric Power Company (Nepco) under a power purchase agreement with AES Jordan. �The project will help Jordan meet growing demand for electricity: without continued investment in the energy sector, Jordan will be unable to meet its projected demand for electricity of 4.9gw by 2020 � 48% higher than its current generation capacity,� said OPIC. �Enhancing electricity generation capacity has been a priority for the Jordanian government after the Arab Spring decreased the country�s ability to import gas from Egypt,� it added.
Electricity Policy Shift
The decline of Egyptian pipeline gas supplies and Jordan�s scarcity of conventional hydrocarbon resources have forced the �Amman government into a fundamental shift in electricity generation policy. Before the decline in gas supplies from Egypt, Jordan imported about 100,000 b/d of crude oil, mainly from Saudi Arabia. Jordan increased its crude imports in 2011 � including a resumption of imports from Iraq � to compensate for the loss of the Egyptian gas, which had been fuelling up to 80% of its power supply (MEES, 14 September).
Besides seeking alternative sources of oil and gas and expanding conventional power capacity, Jordan is pursuing other alternatives � shale oil, renewables and nuclear power. Jordan recently announced a preliminary agreement with Estonia�s Enefit for construction of a 460mw direct burning shale oil power plant (MEES, 11 June). Earlier Jordan signed a preliminary agreement with China�s Lejjun for a 900mw shale oil power plant (MEES, 28 November 2011).
Jordan�s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has set a target of providing 1.8gw of electricity supply from renewable sources by 2020, with 1.2gw to come from wind farms and 600mw from solar plants. The ministry has recently received expressions of interest from 20 firms for individual wind projects in the range 16-100mw and solar projects of 10-50mw capacity. Jordan has also proposed building a 1.0gw nuclear power plant and has concluded nuclear cooperation agreements with 12 countries (MEES, 7 September).
Jordan Electricity Demand Forecast
Year | Maximum Demand | Total Consumption | ||
MW | Annual Growth (%) | GWh | Annual Growth (%) | |
2011 | 2,660 | 4.6 | 16,120 | 6.4 |
2012 | 2,865 | 7.7 | 17,377 | 7.8 |
2013 | 3,080 | 7.5 | 18,733 | 7.8 |
2014 | 3,317 | 7.7 | 20,231 | 8.0 |
2015 | 3,572 | 7.7 | 21,870 | 8.1 |
2020 | 4,936 | 6.7 | 30,846 | 7.0 |
Source: Jordan�s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
Copyright MEES 2012.
