Masdar inaugurates Jordan’s Baynouna Solar Park

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

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

Dr Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, COP28 President-Designate, and chairman of Masdar; said, “In partnership with the Jordanian government, the Baynouna Solar Park will contribute to Jordan’s climate targets, provide access to clean energy, create jobs and ensure economic growth. Along with our other project here – the Tafila Wind Farm – Masdar is already helping Jordan to produce 29 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and will support its goal of increasing that to 50 percent by the end of the decade,” he said in a company statement.

He added: “Ambitious, transformative partnerships like these are precisely what we need if we are to deliver on the promise of the Paris Agreement and continue to ensure that we are holding back emissions, not progress. COP28 will focus on moving from goals to implementation, with a clear focus on demonstrable action on mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and finance, as we aim to keep the objective of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees alive.”

Learn more about the 200-MW #Baynouna Solar Park, part of #Masdar’s #CleanEnergy portfolio in #Jordan. The project displaces 360,000 tonnes of CO2 per year and is helping Jordan to achieve its objective of meeting 50 percent of electricity needs from #renewables by 2030. pic.twitter.com/reNyQ2d3BN

— Masdar (@Masdar) February 25, 2023

Baynouna Solar Park: a symbol of cooperation

Dr Saleh Al Kharabsheh, Jordan’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources said, “Under the directive of King Abdullah II to make Jordan a regional centre for green development, 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.”

Sheikh Khalifa bin Mohammed bin Khalid Al Nahyan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the UAE to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, said, “This inauguration is a landmark moment in the history of our two nations and will serve to strengthen the already powerful relationship between us. The UAE is committed to helping our brother nations in the region achieve their clean energy objectives and we stand ready to share our expertise further with the Government and people of Jordan and to help deliver sustainable economic development.”

Financial institutions that supported the Baynouna Solar Park project include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the KfW Group’s DEG, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Peter Ramsay, CEO of Taaleri Group, said, “We are very excited to be inaugurating the largest solar park in Jordan. This impressive project is a testament to the strength of cooperation between Masdar and Taaleri, two pioneers who have been active in the renewable energy field for a long time. We are proud to advance our common global climate change mitigation goals together with our partners and investors.”

Masdar-Jordan clean energy projects

In addition to Baynouna Solar Park Park, Masdar also operates the 117 MW Tafila Wind Farm, which was 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 (GW) of renewable energy projects in the country.

Read: UAE’s Masdar to collaborate with Jordan’s energy ministry on renewable energy projects

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. The Conference, the largest annual gathering of policymakers and practitioners focused on climate change and sustainability will see well over 70,000 officials from across the public and private sectors gather at Expo City in Dubai.

Also read: COP28 will be UAE’s most important event in 2023, says Sheikh Mohammed