Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Damascus, SANA- Establishing photovoltaic power plants with a total capacity of 1500 MW and wind farms with a capacity of 900 MW and installing more than 1.2 million domestic solar heaters are the strategic goals of the Ministry of Electricity regarding the renewable energies until 2030 in order to secure alternative sources and encourage investment in this domain, according to Dr. Younus Ali, Director of the National Energy Research Center.
Ali explained that the strategy includes a set of approaches, policies and procedures that will support the implementation of the ministry’s plan, the most important of which is to encourage the private sector to participate in the implementation of renewable energy projects by giving it some incentives and advantages such as providing the land needed for the project in return for a nominal allowance of 1 percent of the value of electricity produced and reduce the transfer fee.
The Ministry will also pay the costs of connecting the project with the public network and its commitment to purchase electricity produced by renewable energy projects implemented by the private sector at encouraging prices for a period ranging from 20 to 25 years.
To encourage citizens to benefit from the applications of renewable energies such as the use of the sun to heat water or photovoltaic generators to generate electricity, Ali indicated that the strategy included the establishment of a special fund in cooperation with private and public banks to grant interest-free loans for those interested in the acquisition of solar water heater or the installation of a photovoltaic system not exceeding five kilowatts. The interest of these loans is covered by the fund and the loan is redeemed through electricity bills for 5 years.
Ali pointed out that despite of the difficult circumstances, the Ministry has implemented a number of photovoltaic projects such as al-Kiswa Station, which has a capacity of 1.25 MW, in addition to a number of projects on the roofs of some government buildings and schools.
He added that the Ministry has taken all the required steps to encourage the private sector to make investments in this domain, pointing out that the Ministry will cooperate with the Ministries of Agriculture, Local Administration and Environment as well as the Regional Planning Commission to prepare a map for the distribution of sites for renewable energy projects included in the solar and wind plan to be allocated to the Ministry of Electricity to establish these projects.
Ali praised the recent campaign launched by the Ministry of Electricity in cooperation with the National Energy Research Center, and the Ministries of Information, Education, Islamic Endowments (Awqaf), Social Affairs, Labor, Local Administration and Culture.
The campaign included activities, events, field visits to schools, awareness seminars and workshops that will continue until the end of February 2020 and they will be allocated for conveying a message on rationalizing the energy in the right way to the recipients.
H. Zain / R. al-Jazaeri
