ACWA Power, Jordan to sign $400 mln power plant deal

Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power will sign a $400 million contract with Jordan’s National Electric Power Co. to construct a 480-megawatt plant, Bloomberg reported, citing Ghaleb Maabreh, secretary general of Jordan’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

The new facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2019, and will replace Jordan’s oldest plant, the Hussein Thermal Power Station, in the Red Sea port of Aqaba.

The Hussein thermal station currently uses heavy fuel and gasoline and has a generating capacity of 198 megawatts.

The new plant will run mainly on natural gas – a more “cost-effective solution” – and will use gasoline as well, the report added.

Jordan has also been working on increasing its solar and wind power. The government on Sunday signed a $128 million contract with Abu Dhabi-based Enviromena Power Systems and Spain’s TSK Group to build a 100-megawatt solar power plant in Al Qweira.