Sep. 18--AMMAN -- AES Jordan PSC on Thursday announced the start of commercial operations of its 380MW combined cycle gas plant.

The project, constructed on a build-own-operate basis by a Japanese-American consortium, is to generate 380MW, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Spokesperson Mahmoud Al Eis told The Jordan Times in a phone interview on Thursday.

The Amman East Power Plant is located in Al Manakher Village, 30 kilometres east of Amman, and will deliver electricity to the National Electric Power Company through a 25-year power purchase agreement, according to a company statement received by The Jordan Times yesterday.

"The project will help the Kingdom meet its growing power needs," Eis added.

In 2007, the US-based AES Corporation started construction on the combined-cycle gas-fired power plant.

The Amman East Power Project is expected to increase Jordan's electricity generation capacity by approximately 20 per cent, according to the company's website.

The plant is designed to operate with a significant amount of automatic control and will create 40-50 full-time jobs.

"Amman East is Jordan's most efficient generation facility, and will supply approximately 18 per cent of the country's demand," said Meftaur Rahman, executive manager of AES Jordan PSC, a Japanese-American consortium.

The Amman East facility is one of the largest foreign-investment energy projects in Jordan.

The Kingdom currently imports some 96 per cent of its energy needs, accounting for over one-fifth of Jordan's gross domestic product.

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