Masdar’s Baynouna solar park to help Jordan meet climate targets

WAM

The Baynouna Solar Energy Company (BSCE), a joint venture between the UAE’s renewable energy company, Masdar, and Finnish investment and asset management group Taaleri, has launched the 200-megawatt (MW) Baynouna Solar Park, the largest clean energy project in Jordan. 

The solar park will contribute to Jordan’s climate targets, provide access to clean energy, create jobs and ensure economic growth, Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE minister of industry and advanced technology, Cop28 president-designate and chairman of Masdar, said in a statement. 

He added that through the Tafila Wind Farm, Masdar is already supporting Jordan to produce 29 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and will help its goal of increasing that to 50 percent by the end of the decade.

Jordanian minister of energy and mineral resources, Dr Saleh Al Kharabsheh, said: “The Ministry is focused on developing local energy sources to achieve energy security, enhance self-reliance and limit the effects of climate change.

“If we look at the world today, we see that renewable energy, especially solar and wind energy, are the fastest growing and widespread renewable energy sources and the time has come to maximise the benefits of renewables.”

Developed through a power purchase agreement between Masdar and National Electric Power Company, Jordan’s state electricity provider, the Baynouna Solar Park produces over 560 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy annually, enough to power 160,000 homes.

The plant displaces 360,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to taking nearly 80,000 cars off the road.

Financial institutions that supported the Baynouna project include the International Finance Corporation, the Opec Fund for International Development, the KfW Group’s DEG, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the statement said.

Masdar also operates the 117 MW Tafila Wind Farm, completed in 2015 – the first commercial utility-scale wind project in the Middle East.

In November 2022, Masdar signed a memorandum of understanding with the Jordanian ministry of energy and mineral resources to explore the development of a further 2 gigawatts of renewable energy projects in the country.

The energy transition is a central component of the UAE’s priorities as it prepares to host the 28th Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (Cop28) in November-December at Expo City in Dubai.