by Mohammad Ghazal | Jan 31, 2013

AMMAN — The Jordan River Foundation (JRF) will hold a series of meetings with community-based organisations (CBO) in the country as part of a nationwide project to facilitate the installation of solar panels in households.

“We will meet with all CBOs to inform them about the initiative and the criteria to be accepted as a partner in the project,” JRF Director General Ghaleb Qudah told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

Meetings will be held with around 5,000 CBOs starting in February and the JRF will select 70 to be partners in the project, Qudah said, adding that around six societies will be selected from each of the Kingdom’s 12 governorates.

Under the project, which is expected to be implemented in April, the selected CBOs will contract with solar panel manufacturers and sell them to interested families through instalments, according to Qudah.

“During the first year of the project, solar panels will be installed in around 2,000 households across the country in attempt to increase reliance on renewable energy and reduce consumption of electricity for heating water,” he said.

The project envisages the installation of another 1,000 solar panels in 2014, with a target of 5,000 over the next five years, Qudah added.

The project will be implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, which will provide the JRF with the funds required for implementing the project.

The foundation will give the money to the CBOs, which will be in charge of buying the solar panels for citizens and collecting monthly instalments from them.

http://jordantimes.com/implementation-of-solar-panel-project-slated-for-april