The challenges of Jordan’s electricity sector

Jordan, as well as many other countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, has experienced a signifi cant increase of peak load and annual electricity demand within the last decade due to a strong growth of economy and population. The peak load of Jordan’s interconnected system has more than doubled from about 1.200 MW in the year 2000 to 2.650 MW in 2010, which is equivalent to an average growth rate of 8 % per year. The electricity generated per year increased within the same time frame from 7.375 GWh/a to 14.683 GWh/a1. The observed strong escalation of both, peak load and annual electricity demand, will continue in the upcoming years resulting in a peak load of about 5.000 MW and an annual electricity demand of about 31.000 GWh/a in the year 2020. Taking into account decommissioning of some existing power plants, Jordan has to install up to 3.000 MW of new fi rm power generation capacity within the next decade in order to keep up with the strongly increasing electricity demand and maintaining the security of electricity supply2. Today, Jordan’s existing power plant portfolio is highly dominated by fossil fuel-fi red conventional power plants burning natural gas, heavy fuel oil and DieThe challenges of Jordan’s electricity sector