The Arab World is not a drop of oil. This innovative and striking slogan was raised by the Lebanese environmental advocacy group "IndyAct" in its pursuit for more climate-responsible energy policies in the Arab world. This region, portrayed globally as a source of oil that leads to global warming is lagging behind in the development and implementation of renewable energy policies and measures. This trend is being gradually changed by necessity rather than ethical options and a new path to sustainable energy in the Arab world is paved.

The high increase of oil prices in 2007-2008 and the resulting turmoil in energy markets has acted like a wake-up call for many Arab countries, especially the non-oil producers like Jordan to the absolute need for diversification of energy sources, and placed more emphasis on the renewable energies for both economic and environmental reasons.  For Jordan in particular this shift is highly strategic with energy imports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt consuming 20% of GDP in 2008, as the price of oil surged to nearly $150 a barrel.

Jordan has recently developed its modified national energy strategy 2008-2020 through a national committee established by a Royal Decree. The strategy has suggested a robust package of legislative, administrative and technological innovations aiming to steer the country into more reliable, sustainable and environmentally friendly energy resources. In the new strategy the share of renewable energy resources will be increased from a mere 1% now to 10% in 2020. The previous target was 3% developed by the National Agenda in 2005.

 This transition will require capital investments, technology transfer and human resources development to produce a solid base to maintain and enhance this positive change. This transition should be done through a package of investments estimated at US $ 1.4 - 2.2 billion. The investment package includes Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) deals for wind energy with a total capacity of 660 MWs and solar energy innovations for 600 MW. This will be paralleled with the reduction of energy produced from oil from 58% currently to 40% in 2020.

The strategy includes other recommendations on energy conservation that includes grant exemptions to energy-saving vehicles, exempting solar water heaters from sales tax and implementation of building code regulations than conserve the energy and create a national award for rationalization of energy consumption. The strategy is to be supported by a "Renewable Energy Law". The draft law includes regulations and incentives for renewable energy production from investments in areas designated to be utilized to build renewable energy facilities. The law provides investors with a lot of incentives including 100% exemption from income tax for 10 years. The draft law allows even individual households, residential and commercial buildings to sell extra electricity generated by the solar panels or wind turbines to the national electricity grid. 

The government has also established a new Energy Fund to support the infrastructure development of new renewable energy facilities. In addition the government is seeking to provide tax incentives to remove the barriers for the comprehensive use of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in the Jordanian market. 

One of the most promising potential investments in renewable energy will be installing more than 250 MW of concentrated solar power (CSP) in Jordan’s Ma’an development zone through three projects developed by the private sector. Both projects are currently in the phase of feasibility studies. The Ma'an Development Area enjoys about 320 days of sunshine a year, with a high level of irradiance that allows over 2500 million kWh of primary energy to be harvested annually from each square kilometer. It is noteworthy to mention that the two out of the three projects are named "Shams" and "Badr" in Arabic, meaning the "sun" and "full moon"!

Now it is essential that the draft renewable energy law be enacted. The draft law has been discussed in length at the Parliament along with other components of the draft energy law. The expiry date of the parliament in December 2009 did not allow for its adoption and now the only way in which such a progressive law can be adopted to encourage investments in renewable energy is through a temporary law.