Jordan’s 6,000 Mosques ‘to run on solar power by end of year’

Jordan’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is collaborating with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to implement plans to power all of the country’s mosques with solar energy by the end of 2015.  

The photovoltaic panels (pictured) will be installed on rooftops in a scheme that will be piloted on 120 mosques and will be extended if funding is secured. 

Mosques can currently pay as much as $1,400 a month for the air-conditioning and lighting needed to keep worshippers comfortable during their five daily prayers. 

A spokesperson for Jordan’s energy ministry, told The Jordan Times: "Mosques use large amounts of electricity and the project will help to reduce significantly their electricity bills as about 300 days in the year are sunny."

The photovoltaic panels

Around 1,650MW of renewable energy projects are expected to be completed in the kingdom by 2020. 

Samer Zawaydeh, assistant director of US-based Association of Energy Engineers, told PV Magazine: "The decentralised residential and commercial solar PV market in Jordan started with around 40 companies in December 2012 and now has hundreds of companies working in the field. More than 5,000 people are working in the supply chain." 

Jordan currently imports 96% of its energy each year, and some 150 mosques are built each year. 

Photo: The Abu Darweesh mosque in Amman, Jordan and the photovoltaic panels that will be used to power it (Wikimedia Commons)