Hey Ministers!

It is not everyday that you get the full attention of three jordanian ministers (Energy, Mega-Projects, Environment)  at the same time. But during todays event on renewable energy – wind in particular – I got the chance to speak in front of them. My main message was that Jordan is standing on the threshold of an adventure into clean, competitive and reliable energy from homeblown ressources. So far the government has taken some very necessary steps to make this adventure happen – but there is still a little bit to do to make it perfect. So let’s not waste any time in getting everything right. My remarks are reprinted below:

Dear friends, I give me great pleasure to welcoming you to this wind power event by Vestas. As some of you have heard the Vestas company is a real life business fairytale. The company have grown from a small local blacksmith into the most traded shareholding company on the Danish stock exchange with a market capitalization in excess of 9 billion Euros. Vestas has grown this way by becoming the leading world provider of wind energy – or in other words – by providing clean energy to the World. Clean energy is no longer a dream – it is large scale business.

When I arrived in Jordan in September 2007 to take up my posting Jordan was finalizing a crucial document for its future. It was the new strategy that would set the development of the energy sector for the next 10 years to come. The challenge of the strategy was to satisfy the growing energy need of Jordan – estimated at a rather conservative 7% per year.  One of the ways to meet this increased demand was to set a very ambitious target for renewable energy of 10% of the energy mix in 2020. In other words – every year from today until 2020 Jordan needs to put more than 300 MW of electricity online and of this, renewable energy would have to supply more than 1000 MW – most of it online before 2015. This is a serious challenge.

So far this challenge has not been met. We are at less than 1% of renewable energy in Jordan. But there is hope. Recently, the Jordanian government adopted the new law on renewable energy. This law – if implemented rapidly and according to its provisions – will make the market for renewable energy in Jordan much more attractive to investors and producers – and at the same time help fulfil some of the strategic goals in the energy strategy – cleaner energy and less dependence on imported energy. I personally believe that our friend the minister of energy H.E. Khaled Irani deserves a lot of credit for getting the law adopted.

But even if credit is due – more can be done from the government side. Let me just suggest something like a feed-in tariff. Experience shows, that a reasonable feed-in tariff can be a driver in getting renewable energy to take off. Another element of potential importance is the designation of new windy areas for wind power production, including wind measurement and in particular clarification of land ownership rights. With these issues resolved, the Government will have created a level playing field for investors so that the private sector can contribute to the fulfilment of the energy strategy and its strategic political goals.

Jordan might not have the same kind of wind as we in northern Europe are blessed with. But there are quite a number of quality spots to install wind turbines. Wind turbines of todays high technology does not need much wind to be efficient. Looking at the energy consumption in Jordan that goes to sectors where wind would be a perfect energy provider, I will just mention that 20% of electricity consumption goes to pumping water. With the Disi project implemented I guess this consumption will increase further. Wind and water is a perfect match for Jordan.

Another phenomenon I have witnessed during my three years in Jordan is the increased awareness among public institutions and NGO’s about renewable energy. Just the other day, the Jordanian renewable energy society signed a MoU about using clean energy to power the streetlights in Jordan. Energy efficiency – which is a very low hanging fruit in Jordan – is also and rightly so getting much more attention today from public institutions and NGO’s than just two years ago.

Probably more importantly – the last year or so have seen a steady growth in the number of business people and investors involving themselves in the green energy sector. Just look at the turnout of today’s meeting. You can “go green” for idealistic reasons, but it is probably not until the private sector gets involved that a country will move forward in this respect. To me it seems that green energy in Jordan at this moment is at the threshold of taking off.

The Vestas seminar today will hopefully accelerate this movement, so Jordan soon will start to produce “modern energy” to use the Vestas slogan. I wish you all a fruitful and productive seminar.

Al Ghad article here. Petra News Agency report (Arabic) here and here and in English here. Jordan Times article here. Al Rai article here. Ad Dustour article here.

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