Jordan News

The domestic and public sector still accounts for the largest share of electrical energy consumption in the Kingdom, with a rate of 49.3% last year, up from 46.1% in 2019.

According to the data of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources for the year 2020, the total consumption of electricity for residential and public buildings last year amounted to 9100 GWh out of a total consumption of about 18.4 thousand GWh, while the total consumption of this public sector that preceded it was 8260 GWh out of a total Consumption in that year was 17.9 thousand GWh.

Next came the industrial sector, with a total consumption of 3489 GWh last year, compared to 3622 GWh in 2019, then the agricultural sector and water pumping, with a total consumption of 2866 GWh, compared to 2747 GWh the previous year, and then the commercial and hotel sector, with a total consumption of 2584 GW Watt-hours from 2,870 gigawatt-hours in 2019.

Finally, the street lighting sector came with a total of 387 gigawatts last year, compared to a total consumption of 411 gigawatts in 2019.

This comes at a time when the total electrical energy generated in the Kingdom last year amounted to 20,953 GWh, compared to 20,996 GWh in 2019, while the maximum load of the electrical system last year was 3,630 GWh, compared to 3,360 GWh in 2019.

Electricity was generated in the Kingdom last year using natural gas by 80% and renewable energy by 20%.

The average quantities of natural gas consumed from the available sources in generating electric power during the same year amounted to about 337 million cubic feet per day, distributed as the source of Egyptian gas, North gas (Israeli gas), Sheikh Sabah port of liquefied gas and Risha gas.

As for renewable energy, the installed capacity of electric power projects from renewable energy sources reached 2063.3 MW.

It is noteworthy that the World Bank announced in a previous report that the government, under the International Monetary Fund program, committed to a 3-year plan starting in 2021 to amend the electricity tariff to better target the support provided to families and reduce the high cost of electricity companies.

The bank said that “in Jordan today there is an unconnected structure that includes a single buyer from the electricity market with an independent regulatory authority, the participation of the private sector in the generation and distribution of electricity, and huge installations to absorb renewable energy sources.”