Mar. 2--AMMAN -- Maan and Karak residents will take a crack at becoming solar energy technicians under a training programme to be launched by the Maan Development Area and Millennium Energy Industries.

Around 20 local residents will be trained to maintain existing solar panels at the Maan Development Area's Albert's Leather Crafting Company factory, as well as install and provide maintenance for future solar energy devices planned for the industrial area and the southern region.

During the seven-month course on solar technology implemented in cooperation with the Vocational Training Corporation, trainees with basic education will receive food, housing and a stipend, according to Maan Development Corporation (MDC) CEO Mohammad Turk.

Upon graduation, trainees will receive jobs either within the development zone or elsewhere, filling a growing need for a workforce skilled in solar technologies, according to the MDC CEO.

"As soon as they graduate, they will be employed. There is a large need in the sector," Turk told The Jordan Times, noting that plans are in place to train another batch of 20 local residents in solar technology maintenance later this year.

MDC and Millennium Energy are also teaming up to establish a research and development centre for renewable energy at Al Hussein University to capitalise on the area's solar energy potentials.

The two firms are also in discussions with a solar technology company in China to construct a solar panel factory in Maan, which would utilise the abundant presence of silicon in the Southern Badia -- a material key to evacuated-tubes used in solar panels.

Solar power is an energy source with the potential to produce 23,000 times the current consumption of electricity in the Kingdom, according to the National Energy Research Centre.

With the technology exempt from customs and sales tax, the private sector is rapidly adapting solar energy for water heaters and other uses, according to industry sources, but suffers from a lack of skilled labour in for its upkeep.

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