Khaberni - The Executive Director of the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Fund, Rasmi Hamzeh, spoke on Thursday about the fund's accomplishment of implementing measures in 12 hotels in the city of Petra, in addition to 5 hotels in Aqaba, which contributed to reducing their energy bills.
Hamzeh explained in statements to "Al Mamlaka" channel that the measures include all activities conducted by the industrial or hotel facility that rely on energy as a source, involving changes to heating and cooling systems, production lines, uninsulated windows, uninsulated walls, and other actions, where a study of everything consuming energy aims to reduce its cost.
In his discussion about the Petra city hotel project and the annual savings percentage on the energy bill, Hamzeh stated that the rate ranged between 40% -60%.
Hamzeh believes that the investment value in these measures can be recouped within a period not exceeding five years.
Regarding the fund's contribution to supporting hotels and other sectors, he said the fund offers grants that include a full grant for energy auditing (which is a comprehensive systematic review of energy consumption in a building or institution to identify wastage points, device efficiency, and determine energy saving and cost reduction opportunities), in addition to facilitating procedures and providing a full grant for the interest on a loan of 350 thousand dinars, along with guaranteeing these loans at the Jordanian Loan Guarantee Company.
Hamzeh emphasized that the hotel sector is one of the sectors targeted by the fund's programs, which also include other sectors like the industrial and residential sectors that consume 46% of the costs of the produced electricity.
"There is collaboration with the industrial sector on the Energy Fund programs, where we have completed 180 energy audit studies through the joining of 180 factories to this program," according to Hamzeh
The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources/ Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Fund, Saleh Al-Kharabsheh, and the Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Jordan Hotel Association, Osama Madanat, signed a cooperation agreement on Thursday to implement a comprehensive program for energy conservation and efficiency.
The agreement aims to increase the competitiveness of hotels and the tourism sector by reducing operating costs, including energy costs, and includes conducting energy audit studies for hotel facilities and implementing the outputs of these studies.
It should be noted that the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Fund was established in 2012 under the Electric Power and Sources Law No. 13 (Articles 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16) and began operating in 2015 after the issuance of Regulation 49 of 2015, and it was established in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to provide the necessary funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy measures, including designing and supporting financial windows and mechanisms that allow users of renewable energy and energy efficiency to benefit from them, such as financing from banks or local and international financial institutions, which includes supporting interest rates on loans, mitigating financial risks, credit guarantees, and supporting investment in innovative projects and facilitated investment.
