IndexPV

Solar Cells

The solar cells that is made from semiconductors such as silicon is used to convert sunlight directly into electricity to feed the electrical loads such as lights, refrigerators, pumps, and others. Solar cells offer many advantages that it does not consume fuel, does not cause air pollution, has a long life and requires only a little maintenance.

Clear days and sunshine hours average numbers..

Month	Average No.of clear days	Average No. of hours of sunshine
January	20	232
February	22	260
March	24	296
April	25	275
May	25	348
Jun	30	405
July	31	380
August	31	390
September	29	334
October	25	280
November	26	264
December	22	233

PV Installations (2006) and Projection till (2020) - Government

2006

Capacity, 0.5 MW

Produced Energy, 1 GW.hr

Produced Energy 78 (TOE)

Saving in Primary Energy 226 (TOE)

2020

Capacity, 10 MW

Produced Energy, 18 Gw.hr

Produced Energy, 314 (TOE)

Savings in the primary Energy 905 (TOE)

Solar Energy

Jordan is blessed with an abundance of solar energy which is evident from the annual daily average solar irradiance (average insulation intensity on a horizontal surface) ranges between 4-7 kWh/m2, which is one of the highest in the world. This corresponds to a total annual of 1400-2300 kWh/m3. The average sunshine duration is more than 300 days per year.

According to the solar atlas of Jordan, the country is divided into five regions: - (see Fig below)

The southern region representing Ma’an and Aqaba area, which has the highest solar isolation in the country and has the lowest values of diffuse irradiance. The annual average daily global irradiance is between 6-7 kWh/m2.
The eastern region representing the semi desert and the (badia) remote area with an annual daily between 5.5-6 kWh/m2.
The middle region with an average global irradiance at 4.5 – 5 kWh/m2, but with the highest annual daily average of diffused irradiance.
The northern region with the annual daily average global irradiance of about 5.5 kWh/m2.
The western region representing the Jordan Valley area, situated below sea level and with an average annual daily global irradiance below 4.5 kWh/m2.

Solar energy is widely used for water heating especially in the domestic sector (25% of households), and solar energy is used for electricity generation in several stand-alone applications using Photovoltaic systems. Several applications as water pumping, telecommunications, desalination and lighting for remote sites have been successfully introduced.