Saudi firm signs 25-year deal for power project in Jordan

Muscat: Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, which has presence in Oman in the form of independent power projects, has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with Jordan’s National Electric Power Company (Nepco) for the 485 mw Hussein CCGT independent power project.
The plant will be located in Zarqa industrial area, 40km north-east of Jordan capital Amman, and will replace Jordan’s first thermal power station — the Hussein Thermal Power Station, which has been operating since 1975 and has recently been decommissioned.
The project, with a total investment cost of $460 million, uses GE Energy’s 9E turbines and runs on natural gas as the primary fuel, and light diesel oil as the secondary fuel. Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation III will be the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project, while the operations and maintenance will be undertaken by Central Electricity Generating Company of Jordan.
Hussein CCGT project is an important project for ACWA Power in Jordan. This transaction goes a long way in demonstrating our commitment to the socio-economic development of Jordan and in supporting Nepco through provision of electricity reliably at the lowest possible cost in Jordan. The government of Jordan is to be commended on its approach to stimulating private investment in the energy sector and for ensuring that adequate new capacity is brought to line to feed growing social needs and economic activity,” said Paddy Padmanathan, president and chief executive officer of ACWA Power.
Thamer Al Shahran, managing director of ACWA Power, said: “We are pleased to build up on our presence as one of Jordan’s largest power generators, in supporting Jordan’s increasing demand for power and a balanced fuel mix by rehabilitating Hussein with a much more efficient plant and more importantly ensuring that there was no effective loss in jobs due to the decommissioning of the old plant.”
“We are proud to have offered an extremely competitive solution to Nepco with a tariff that is among the lowest witnessed in Jordan’s conventional power sector in the last decade. This transaction is yet another example where we could successfully push the envelope in order to offer the best value for money solution to our offtakers,” said Rajit Nanda, chief investment officer of ACWA Power.