Ammon News - Currently, Jordan generates more electricity from renewable sources than any other Arab country, and by 2030, the country hopes to have generated half of its electricity from renewables, said Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh Kharabsheh.

The minister’s remarks were made on Monday at a discussion session organized by the EDAMA Association for Energy, Water, and Environment, in cooperation with the Energy Sector Support Program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The session, attended by the CEO of Kawar Energy Company, Hanna Zaghloul, and Deloitte's U.S. Managing Director Richard Longstaff, tackled ongoing measures and future directions to develop the energy transition roadmap in Jordan.

"The ministry’s vision is to achieve a secure and sustainable supply of energy through a clear strategy set out for the coming years, with the aim of making Jordan a regional hub for green energy, in line with the Economic Modernization Vision," Kharabsheh added.

He indicated that Jordan is working toward energy transformation by upping the contribution of renewable energy to the overall energy mix and building a suitable infrastructure by developing the electrical grid and energy storage projects and smart grids.

"Projects to improve energy efficiency are currently underway in various sectors," he added, pointing to a specific project for electric transportation for which a strategy and legislation are being developed.

The ministry is also working on keeping abreast of developments in the energy sector, including a strategy to set technical and legal standards to produce green hydrogen, the minister added, noting that an agreement was signed with the Fortescue Future Industries company to implement a project to produce green hydrogen and green ammonia in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone.

Additionally, he said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Danish A.P. Moller-Maersk Company was signed regarding the production of green fossil fuels in Aqaba as part of the Kingdom’s plans to expand clean energy resources and increase local energy resources in the total energy mix by 50 percent by 2030.

Zaghloul stated that the energy transition is an opportunity for Jordan to lure in investments, create jobs in the local information technology (IT) and energy management sectors, and encourage Jordanian youth to innovate, pointing to the significance of benefiting from the integration between the telecommunications, IT and energy sectors, which opens up many promising opportunities.

"Jordan has the qualifications and good governance that qualify it to be a regional hub for green energy," said Richard Longstaff, the Deloitte Consulting executive director, highlighting the significance of mobilizing individual efforts to accelerate and achieve the goals that were discussed at the climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, COP27.

In turn, the Chairman of the EDAMAH Board of Directors, Dureid Mahasneh, stressed the importance of the session in focusing on the energy transition in Jordan and addressing the sector’s challenges.

This comes in conjunction with the government’s recently-launched Economic Modernization Vision (2023-2033), which includes a pillar on sustainable resources that lays out a goal of "developing an enforceable energy transition roadmap (renewable energy sources, hydrocarbons, and hydrogen, etc.)," in addition to upgrading the energy infrastructure (smart energy grid, storage processing, transportation, pipelines) and enhancing mechanisms to reduce energy costs.

The vision’s Green Jordan program seeks to prop up sustainable practices as a key feature of the Kingdom’s future economic growth and the improvement of the quality of life.