Vestas To Supply Middle East With First Utility-Scale Wind Project
Just under two weeks ago we reported that the Jordan Wind Project Company had signed a financing agreement to begin constructing a utility-scale wind power project in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Today it was announced that Vestas Wind System had been awarded the contract to provide the 117 MW of wind turbines.
Reporting earlier in December, we noted that the Tafila Wind Farm would be the very first utility-scale wind power project in the Middle East.
The Jordan Wind Project Company is a co-development between Inframed, Masdar, and EP Global Energy, and will see the Tafila Wind Farm developed under the Jordanian Renewable and Energy Efficiency Law which was passed in 2010, which calls for the country to obtain 7% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2015, to be raised to 10% by 2020.
Subsequently, when the Tafila Wind Farm is completed in 2015, it will account for approximately 10% of the 2020 renewable energy target.
“JWPC’s 117MW Tafila Wind Farm is the first utility-scale renewable-energy project in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the region and is a major step toward getting Jordan on the renewable energy map of the world,” said Samer Judeh, chairman of JWPC. “His Majesty King Abdullah’s Vision and the Jordanian Government’s strategy,aims to encourage investors and financiers to make these vital projects possible.”
Vestas announced on Monday that they would be providing 38 V112-3.0 MW turbines, amounting to 117 MW, for delivery in the second quarter of 2014 with an expected commissioning of the power plant a year later.
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The contract Vestas has signed includes supply, installation, and commissioning of the wind turbines, civil an electrical works, and a 10 year service agreement.
Mr Judeh added that the new project will serve to demonstrate the region’s potential for investments in renewable energy.
“Our country has suffered from a lack of domestic conventional energy sources and from serious challenges in security of energy imports. Jordan, however, has abundant renewable resources, and this will be the first and a showcase for many such projects to come. Renewable energy sources are now among the priorities on the Jordanian government’s agenda, both for the expected economic as well as environmental benefits.”
To be able to generate cost efficient wind power, we selected Vestas and the V112-3.0 MW, after extensive assessment and independent verification, and the V112 turbines proved to be a perfect fit to our project,” concludes Samer Judeh.
“Jordan imports around 97 per cent of its energy, being not only heavily dependent on volatile prices, but also forced to introduce rationing power schemes when it does not succeed in meeting the population’s energy demand,” said Juan Araluce, Executive Vice President & Chief Sales Officer of Vestas. “Wind is therefore part of the solution to the country’s energy shortage both from a cost as well as from a capacity point of view.”
“The Al Tafila wind power plant represents a milestone both for Vestas and for Jordan,” he continued. “Vestas is proud to provide 117 MW of wind energy capacity for the very first utility-scale wind power plant in the country to support Jordan’s goal of developing renewable energy at stable and predictable prices and a tangible result of Vestas’ commitment and business development efforts in the Middle East and North Africa region.”
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