Bassam Sunna
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Geol Geosci
Energy imports constitute a significant part of the drain on hard currency reserves in Jordan. Numerous initiatives are being proposed in order to help the country gain a certain level of energy independence and to mitigate the effect of energy costs on the economy. These include initiatives to extract energy from indigenous oil shale deposits, build nuclear power reactors, wind and solar energy and even hydroelectricity derived from the Red Sea with the Dead Sea proposed canal. Following the appreciable increase in energy prices in the mid-1970s the Natural Resources Authority (NRA) of Jordan started in 1975 a systematic program to explore the geothermal energy of Jordan. The project progressed over the last forty years through several stages with various decision points along the way and limited development by the private sector. From that date up till now most of the activities of the NRA were implemented either by NRA staff members or through the Ministry of Planning and in cooperation with the following foreign countries and organizations: UNDP, USGS/USA, Italy, Germany, Czechoslovakia, France, Britain and Iceland. The work done so far included geological, volcanological, geochemical, geophysical, hydrological, hydro-geological, hydro-chemical, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies with concentration on Zarqa Main and Zara areas in Central Jordan, where shallow and deep drilling programs were also implemented. The renewable energy is currently booming in Jordan, however, the focus is made merely on solar and wind, while the country is blessed with enormous, underused huge potential of geothermal energy resource. The current level of use is limited to therapeutic and touristic applications in Maâ??in and the northern Jordan Valley. Thermal waters in Jordan can be broadly classified into two groups. These are the thermal springs (more than 150 springs) which emanates along the fringe of the Jordan Valley Rift; and thermal wells (more than 100 wells) all over Jordan, in particular the eastern plateau, especially south of Amman, the Azraq, Risha and Sirhan areas. Both are distributed in about 20 geothermal fields. The current situation of geothermal energy in Jordan and the already done or possible applications is summarized hereinafter and will be discussed in the paper. The paper summarizes the various activities of Jordan in the field of geothermal energy and the results of these activities, the obstacles facing utilization of this valuable resource and what is the expected role in the future energy - mix in Jordan. There is very good potential in Jordan for most of the applications of geothermal energy in Jordan.
