Energizing Mid–East water diplomacy: The potential for regional water–energy exchanges

Katz, David; Shafran, Arkadiy

doi:10.1080/02508060.2020.1758521

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 46 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, the abstraction of groundwater sources, especially in Azraq, has increased beyond the safe yield, causing water quality degradation in the aquifers [8,9]. Thus, water scarcity in Jordan can be considered the most significant challenge to achieving sustainable development goals by 2030 [10].…”

Section: Water and Energy Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Techno-Economic Analysis of Selected PV-BWRO Desalination Plants in the Context of the Water–Energy Nexus for Low–Medium-Income Countries

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Jordan was late in adopting seawater and brackish water desalination as a source until the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, ongoing studies are still discussing the technical, economic, and socio-political aspects of brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) desalination plants. In this study, the water–energy nexus was considered, in order to highlight the main challenges facing BWRO desalination. We discuss the use of photovoltaic (PV) technology, together with BWRO desalination, as an approach to compensate for ecological, financial, and social challenges in Jordan. For this purpose, the performance of nine existing BWRO desalination plants in the agricultural, domestic, and industrial sectors is assessed. The water performance is assessed based on water consumption, safe yield extraction, plant recovery rate (R, %), and compliance to local and international water quality standards; the Specific Energy Consumption (SEC, kWh/m3) is taken as the main evaluation criterion to assess the energy performance of the BWRO desalination plants; and economic performance is assessed based on the overall cost of water produced per cubic meter (USD/m3). The main environmental component is the brine disposal management practice utilized by each plant. Based on this assessment, the main challenges in BWRO desalination are the unsustainable patterns of water production, mismanaged energy performance, low recovery rates, and improper brine disposal. The challenges in domestic and industrial BWRO desalination, which are completely dependent on the electricity grid, are associated with critical energy and costs losses, as reflected by the high SEC values (in the range of 2.7–5.6 kWh/m3) and high water costs per cubic meter (0.60–1.18 USD/m3). As such, the use of PV solar panels is suggested, in order to reduce the electricity consumption of the assessed BWRO plants. The installation of PV panels resulted in significantly reduced energy costs (by 69–74%) and total costs (by 50–54%), compared with energy costs from the electricity grid, over the lifetime of the assessed BWRO desalination plants.

show abstract

Section: Water and Energy Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Techno-Economic Analysis of Selected PV-BWRO Desalination Plants in the Context of the Water–Energy Nexus for Low–Medium-Income Countries

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In 2014, Jordan imported 97% of its energy (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.IMP.CONS.ZS?locations=JO, accessed on 21 June 2022). However, the significant potential of solar energy has not been realized yet [26]. On average, Jordan uses 14% of its electricity for water service provision (mostly pumping) [27].…”

Section: Case Study Greater Amman Municipalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Stakeholder Workshops Informing System Modeling—Analyzing the Urban Food–Water–Energy Nexus in Amman, Jordan

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Large cities worldwide are increasingly suffering from a nexus of food, water, and energy supply challenges. This complex nexus can be analyzed with modern physico-economic system models. Only when practical knowledge from those affected, experts, and decision makers is incorporated alongside various other data sources, however, are the analyses suitable for policy advice. Here, we present a concept for “Sustainability Nexus Workshops” suitable for extracting and preparing relevant practical knowledge for nexus modeling and apply it to the case of Amman, Jordan. The experiences of the workshop participants show that, although water scarcity is the predominant resource problem in Jordan, there is a close connection between food, water, and energy as well as between resource supply and urbanization. To prevent the foreseeable significant degradation of water supply security, actions are needed across all nexus dimensions. The stakeholders demonstrate an awareness of this and suggest a variety of technical measures, policy solutions, and individual behavioral changes—often in combination. Improving the supply of food, water, and energy requires political and institutional reforms. In developing these, it must be borne in mind that the prevalent informal structures and illegal activities are both strategies for coping with nexus challenges and causes of them.

show abstract

“…As it emerges from a brief review of the literature, the research on energy security in Jordan has explored characteristics of the energy market in the country, adoption of renewable energy [6,17,[34][35][36], policies to boost it [37,38], and its potential and challenges [13][14][15]. Several contributions are also dealing with the political implications of energy security [39], recommendations [40], and policy options, in particular in relation to cooperation with neighboring countries [5,11,16]. Given the severe water scarcity of the country and the increasing energy demand of the water sector, addressing the water-energy nexus has been also discussed as an important element in achieving sustainability [41,42].…”

Section: Energy Security In Jordan: a Review Of Its Current Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the commitment of the authorities to reach a 10% share of energy from renewable sources and the favorable conditions for solar and wind, infrastructure, lack of funds and local financing schemes, and the size of the domestic market are discouraging investments in the sector and are hindering the transition [14]. To unleash the potential of renewable energy in Jordan, some contributions have been exploring the possibility of new transnational agreements, mostly between Jordan and Israel, suggesting, for instance, the exchange between desalinated water from Israel and Palestine and solar energy from Jordan [11,16], or, more in general, the potential of increased transnational cooperation and better connectivity of the national grids with Israel [5], often framing it within the regional project of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal. Nevertheless, these regional projects, while promising on a technical level, have and bring up political barriers and considerations that have precluded their realization.…”

Section: Energy Policy and Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As discussed in Section 4, the literature on the energy sector in Jordan highlights the potential of Jordan as energy producer for non-conventional and renewable energy [11][12][13], but also highlights that this potential is widely unexploited [6,14,15]. It also discusses international agreements [5] and reflects on their possible implications for the overall political stability of the region [11,16,17]. However, the debate on the energy sector in Jordan is still lacking a full understanding of the factors and the conflicts undermining this potential.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Sustainability of the Energy Sector in Jordan: Challenges and Opportunities

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The acceleration of economic development and rising standards of living have made energy security a top priority for policy makers worldwide. The issue of securing energy is particularly challenging for Jordan, which suffers from scarcity of natural resources, combined with the regional instability and conflicts. Based on desk research and on experts’ interviews, this study discusses the status quo of the energy sector in Jordan, its main challenges, and future aspirations. It thus contributes to the debate on how Jordan can ensure environmental, economic, social, and political sustainability of its energy sector. Jordan’s energy security has been historically linked to its relations with the neighboring countries and thus vulnerable to external shocks and outside political events. Notwithstanding reform efforts to reduce dependency from imports and some progress in diversifying the energy mix, energy security remains critical: the country imports around 94% of its energy, which represents approximately 10% of GDP. The growing domestic demand, which increases at a yearly rate of 3%, further adds to the pressure to envision strategies towards a more sustainable energy sector. These strategies will need to include investment in renewable energy, the reduction of energy consumption via increasing energy efficiency, and also synergic agreements with other countries. The interviewed experts highlighted the importance of governance for the successful implementation of these strategies. The creation of an enabling environment should go hand in hand with the involvement of all key stakeholders from energy and related sectors, into the development of a future vision of a sustainable energy sector.

show abstract

Energizing Mid–East water diplomacy: The potential for regional water–energy exchanges

Cited by 12 publications

References 46 publications

Techno-Economic Analysis of Selected PV-BWRO Desalination Plants in the Context of the Water–Energy Nexus for Low–Medium-Income Countries

Techno-Economic Analysis of Selected PV-BWRO Desalination Plants in the Context of the Water–Energy Nexus for Low–Medium-Income Countries

Stakeholder Workshops Informing System Modeling—Analyzing the Urban Food–Water–Energy Nexus in Amman, Jordan

Sustainability of the Energy Sector in Jordan: Challenges and Opportunities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About