AES Jordan signs Project Finance Contract for new photovoltaic plant in Jordan

On the 21 January 2018, the joint venture between AES Jordan, a subsidiary of the global energy provider AES Corporation, one of the largest power companies in the United States (“AES”), the Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (“Mitsui”) and Nebras Power announced the signing of a Project Finance Contract for a new solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant under the name AM Solar BV/Jordan.

The plant, with a capacity of 52 MW, will be located in Al Manakher, 25 km east of the capital city Amman, and is planned to start operations in 2019. In April 2017, AES Jordan Solar B.V. and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. through a jointly established project company, signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (“PPA”) with the National Electric Power Company of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (“NEPCO”) for the new solar park. The total project cost is approximately USD 50 million. 60% of the joint project company is indirectly owned by AES and Nebras and 40% – by Mitsui.

Under the Finance Contract, the US financial development institution Overseas Private Investment Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) have agreed to finance the project with USD 40 million, with Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) providing loan insurance for the portion provided by SMBC. The solar PV power plant is expected to create about 300 jobs during the construction phase and will be the most advanced technology in a solar PV project in Jordan. It will also produce some of the lowest-price renewable energy in the country.

AES Jordan, Mitsui and Nebras are long-term partners and have undertaken two other IPP projects in Jordan, completed in 2006 (Jordan’s first IPP) and in 2012 (Jordan’s fourth IPP). A renewable energy law, enacted in 2012, also targets developing approximately 1,600 MW of renewable energy by 2020. This project is aligned with local needs, and AES will continue to contribute to the stable supply in growing electricity demand and clean energy development in Jordan by participating in this project.