Qawar Energy in partnership with Maan Development Area (MDA) announced the launch of its $400 million Shams Ma’an Project, a 100MW photovoltaic (PV) power plant project to come up at the MDA industrial park in Jordan.

The project, being undertaken by Qawar Energy in partnership with MDA, is spread across a two million sq m area in the southern part of Jordan, and expected to be ready in 2012.

On completion, it will be the largest PV plant in the world that will position Jordan on the global renewable energy map attracting investments, technologies and knowhow.

It aims to utilise approximately 360,000 to 2 million PV/CPV panels (depending on the technology) and produce around 168 GWh per year, said a MDA official.

MDA chief executive officer Mohammed S. Turk said the Shams Ma’an project was in line with the company’s mandate to create a solar hub in Jordan for training, research and development besides attracting solar technology fims and investors.

Addressing a 150-member investors' delegation, Turk said the Industrial Park was among the most important and largest clusters in Ma’an Development Area.

The delegation comprised representatives from various sectors including solar energy industry, financial and banking sectors, besides consultants, donors and EPC experts and other government officials from all over the region.

'Covering an area of 7.5 sq km, the Industrial Park was prepared to cater to a wide variety of industries, light, medium and heavy, and be home to an important number of manufacturing and production plants that meet the needs of the local markets as well as the regional and international markets,' he explained.

Outlining the available investment opportunities in MDA, Turk said solar energy was a top priority in its development plans taking into consideration the high solar resource that Ma’an area offers.

According to him, the project will ensure positive long-term socioeconomic effects in southern Jordan by creating hundreds of job opportunities during the construction phase and subsequent operations, addressing Jordan as the clean energy hub.

The importance of the project lies in transforming Jordan into a country able to benefit from one of it’s greatest available resources, the sun, in addition to leading the away in energy through the Shams Ma’an Project, he added.

Welcoming the delegation, Ma’an mayor Khaled Khattab said the city was experiencing expedited and expanded developments as a result of the major projects executed following the announcement of Special Development Zone by King Abdullah II.

Ramzi Haffar, a local investor at MDA, said, 'As an investor we plan to benefit from the opportunities and incentives provided to us by MDA, especially the long term eco-friendly industries which benefit from the areas abundant sources of energy.'

Earlier, the delegation was welcomed in the tradional style to the accompaniment of songs by the Ma’an Youth Folklore Arts Group. Ma’an Development Area’s COO Muhannad Tarawneh also attended.-TradeArabia News Service