Campaign encourages households to install solar-powered generators

AMMAN — A three-month campaign began this week to encourage households to install solar photovoltaic systems to generate electricity at home, which will significantly reduce the country’s energy bill.

The campaign, launched by Abu Mahjoob Creative Productions Company in cooperation with the Energy and Mineral Resources Regulatory Commission and USAID, seeks to raise awareness among households on the benefits of using solar energy for power production.

Organisers are encouraging people to consider the use of solar energy in Jordan, which has one of the highest annual daily averages of solar irradiance in the world with an estimated 330 days of sunshine per year.

The initiative targets households that consume 600 kilowatt hours and more per month, noting that by installing such systems these households can save up to 80 per cent of their energy bill, according to the campaign’s page on www.mahjoob.com.

“The campaign includes producing a short clip about the benefits of solar systems, including interviews with people who have already installed such systems and their opinion on the results,” organisers of the campaign said on the website.

It also includes printing and distributing brochures to raise awareness of the campaign and utilising social networking sites to reach out to the public.

As part of the campaign, 600 people from different segments of society will be invited to take part in meetings on the benefits of using solar energy.

Earlier this year, the Jordan River Foundation (JRF) announced a plan to implement a series of projects to help citizens generate electricity using solar energy.

The JRF project stipulates distributing solar power generators to households across the country to reduce energy consumption.

The Kingdom, which annually imports over 95 per cent of its energy needs, is working on a series of renewable energy projects that will increase the contribution of local energy resources to the national grid from the current 3 per cent to 40 per cent by 2020.