{"id":30874,"date":"2019-01-28T06:23:22","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T06:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=30874"},"modified":"2019-01-28T06:23:22","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T06:23:22","slug":"jordan-to-accelerate-electrical-connectivity-with-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=30874","title":{"rendered":"Jordan to accelerate electrical connectivity with Saudi Arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemprop=\"articleBody\" data-io-article-url=\"http:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1442991\/middle-east\" readability=\"56\">\n<p class=\"rtejustify\">\nAMMAN: Jordan will look to increase connectivity with its neighbors in order to improve efficient use of electricity in the region.<br \/>Speaking on Jordan Television\u2019s \u201c60 Minutes\u201d program, the minister for energy and mineral resources, Hala Zawati, suggested that increasing Jordanian production of solar power would allow the country to export excess electricity to other countries during daylight hours, only buying fossil fuel-derived power at night, mostly from Saudi Arabia.<br \/>Amjad Rawashdeh, the director general of Jordan\u2019s National Electric Power Company (NEPCO), said: \u201cWe are talking about connecting our grid with Saudi Arabia, and strengthening our ability to exchange power with our neighbors in a mutually beneficial way.\u201d<br \/>Given the nature of solar power, he said, it was possible for Arab countries like Jordan to produce cheaper energy at different times of day, making it sensible to improve connectivity between nations to save money for their consumers.<br \/>He added that NEPCO expected it would take some time to achieve, given practical differences between the countries\u2019 grids, but that all parties were \u201cserious\u201d about improving energy connectivity, affordability and efficiency: \u201cWe in Jordan welcome this idea. It is a win-win for both sides.<br \/>\u201cIn Saudi Arabia they work on 60 hertz while we work on 50 hertz. We will need to find a way to overcome this technical difference, but we will. Cooperation with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries is our priority.\u201d<br \/>Basel Burgan, an environment and energy commentator in Jordan, believes the plan has merit.<br \/>\u201cThis is a smart idea. We have many solar projects that are very inexpensive. We can produce electricity using solar power for JOD170 ($239.6) per kilowatt, which is much cheaper than producing it from gas burners that costs JOD500 per kilowatt,\u201d he said.<br \/>\u201cSolar is extremely affordable; therefore, it is wise for us to sell it in the day, and buy Saudi electricity when the sun is down.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AMMAN: Jordan will look to increase connectivity with its neighbors in order to improve efficient use of electricity in the region.Speaking on Jordan Television\u2019s \u201c60 Minutes\u201d program, the minister for energy and mineral resources, Hala Zawati, suggested that increasing Jordanian production of solar power would allow the country to export excess electricity to other countries&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":30875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}