Jordan expands the utilization of renewable energy through generation and storage

In interviews with "Alrai," experts pointed out that one of the most prominent economic dimensions of the amendment is the reduction of energy costs. Expanding self-generation opportunities for economic sectors can help facilities lower their electricity bills and enhance their competitiveness, in addition to encouraging investment in storage and clean energy, and creating new opportunities in installation, maintenance, and energy efficiency services.

The draft amended regulation aims to expand the scope of sectors benefiting from connection mechanisms, reorganize the connection of renewable energy systems coupled with electricity storage, and allow existing systems that obtained approvals before June 2024 to increase their capacity according to specific conditions.

The Council of Ministers approved the justifications for the draft amendment to the regulation for connecting renewable energy source facilities to the electrical grid and exempting renewable energy source systems and energy conservation for the year 2026. The government stated that the project aims to enable citizens and economic sectors to benefit more efficiently from renewable energy, enhance self-generation and storage, and rationalize consumption, while maintaining grid stability and reliability.

Financial and economic expert Dr. Mohammed Al-Hadab Al-Sarhan emphasized that the amendment links the expansion of generation with storage, noting that renewable energy sources accounted for about 26.3% of generated electricity in 2025 and about 27% currently, while the 2025–2035 energy strategy aims to raise their contribution to 40% by 2035.

He explained that the coming challenge is not just increasing generation capacities, but absorbing and managing energy efficiently. He noted that the amendments allow, in specific cases, for increasing the capacity of systems linked to storage up to a ceiling linked to 100% of the consumption of the last 12 bills, which enhances the ability of homes, facilities, and productive sectors to manage energy costs.

Al-Sarhan indicated that renewable energy and storage also represent tools to support investment, production, and exports, noting that expanding connection mechanisms opens a larger market for investment in panels, batteries, inverters, energy management systems, engineering services, and green finance.

He pointed out that the targeted storage projects reach capacities of about 400 megawatts before 2030, in addition to a 100-megawatt, four-hour battery project and a 450-megawatt pumped-hydro storage project, reflecting the transformation of storage into a fundamental part of energy infrastructure.

Al-Sarhan highlighted the importance of linking energy production with its efficient use, explaining that facilities with a consumption of 500 megawatt-hours or more over 12 months will need an energy efficiency certificate before operating a renewable energy system, while the strategy aims to achieve a cumulative savings in consumption efficiency of 15% compared to the 2023 base year.

He confirmed that the expansion in renewable energy and storage also contributes to enhancing energy security and reducing the need for imported traditional energy sources, thereby limiting the economy's exposure to global price fluctuations. He stressed the importance of reviewing the regulation after three years and measuring its impact through the volume of storage, investments, savings, and grid stability.

Al-Sarhan concluded by saying: "Jordan has come a long way when it raised renewable energy to about 27% of electricity generation, but reaching 40% requires a phase titled energy management, not just production. If we succeed in combining generation, storage, consumption efficiency, and financing, the return will not only appear in the electricity bill, but in the competitiveness of industry, investment, energy security, and the national economy."

For his part, economic expert Wajdi Makhamreh said that the Council of Ministers' approval of the justifications for the amended regulation represents an important step to move from the phase of expanding the installation of solar energy systems to maximizing the economic return from them.

He explained that the most prominent economic effects are reducing energy costs, encouraging investment, and expanding the market for storage, installation, and maintenance, in addition to introducing storage as a key element for managing production and providing electricity during peak demand times, and maximizing the benefit from existing investments by allowing them, under specific conditions, to increase their capacity.

Makhamreh noted that requiring an energy efficiency certificate for high-consumption facilities pushes the private sector to reduce waste and improve production efficiency, while the expansion in local and renewable energy sources and storage contributes to enhancing energy security and reducing the economy's exposure to oil and gas price fluctuations.

He emphasized that the success of the amendments requires achieving a balance between encouraging investment, protecting grid stability, and ensuring the fair distribution of its costs, in addition to the clarity and speed of procedures for connection, expansion, grid development, and load management.

Economic expert Munir Diyah said that the amended regulation represents an important step towards increasing the contribution of renewable energy to electricity production to reach about 40% in the coming years instead of 27% currently, which allows for greater utilization of renewable energy in terms of production and storage and enhances the feasibility of investment in it.

He added that the expansion in solar energy storage will increase its utilization in homes and facilities, raise investments in renewable energy and storage, and open the way for new investments in green hydrogen and green ammonia, in addition to reducing operational costs and improving production efficiency in the residential, service, industrial, and agricultural sectors.

Diyah pointed out that increasing reliance on local energy sources, including solar energy, wind, natural gas, and oil shale, in addition to green hydrogen and ammonia projects, would reduce the imported energy bill, decrease the trade deficit, increase investment opportunities, and raise the competitiveness of the Jordanian economy.