MENALINKS national workshop highlights importance of industrial flexibility together with MEMR, NEPCO, EMRC and industrial stakeholders
On 29 April 2025, the MENALINKS programme and the Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) hosted a national stakeholder workshop in Amman to discuss regulatory conditions for industrial flexibility and support Jordan’s renewable energy goals. The workshop included over 30 representatives from different stakeholders, including the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO), the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC), distribution companies, academic institutions, and industrial players. The workshop included presentations on Jordan’s regulatory landscape, international best practices from relevant markets, and identified areas of improvement, in addition to a panel discussion on the regulatory enablers and barriers for adopting industrial flexibility.
In Jordan, MENALINKS is exploring the potential of industrial flexibility as a tool to enhance grid stability, enabling a further increase the share of renewable energy in the electricity mix and hereby facilitate the country’s energy transition. With renewables currently contributing 15% to the energy mix and 27% to electricity generation, Jordan is revising its strategy to target 50% renewable electricity generation. This transition requires new regulatory mechanisms to enable flexible energy consumption, particularly in the industrial sector.
Eng. Omar Rousan (MEMR), Dr. Christian Nabe (MENALINKS Programme Director, Guidehouse), and Agustin Roth (Country Lead Jordan, Guidehouse) opened the workshop by introducing MENALINKS and its goals, highlighting how its activities support MEMR in pursuing national renewable energy targets. They highlighted the importance of integrating industrial flexibility into Jordan’s energy strategy and presented an overview of MENALINKS’ current support in Jordan, including a regulatory gap analysis.
Focusing on regulatory frameworks and international best practices
Eng. Ayham Al-Rabee and Eng. Omar Saffouri from the Royal Scientific Society (RSS-NERC) presented the current regulatory framework in Jordan and survey results from Jordanian industry stakeholders. The survey, disseminated by the Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI), pointed towards limited awareness and adoption of Time-of-Use (TOU) tariffs in the sector.
This was followed by a presentation by Dr. Joshua Fragoso Garcia from MENALINKS’ consortium partner Fraunhofer ISI, showcasing a study evaluating flexibility options for a small food factory in Jordan. The analysis showed that adopting flexibility measures yielded the most favorable outcomes, followed by net billing. Battery storage improved self-consumption but was deemed economically unviable under current tariff structures.
The final presentation of the workshop was delivered by Isabelle Gerkens from MENALINKS’ consortium partner Elia Grid International, introducing four key regulatory action fields for enabling the adoption of industrial flexibility, based on international experience:
Economic attractiveness – Enhancing TOU tariff structures and price-based signals
Procurement mechanisms - Establishing processes and mechanisms for acquiring flexibility by the system
Accessibility - Improving digital accessibility and inclusion of different sized industrial players
Awareness - Promoting behavioral change
Examples from Belgium and Morocco were discussed, including Belgium’s “Super Peak” tariff and bilateral flexibility procurement processes. Gerkens noted that Jordan’s current regulatory framework does not explicitly reference demand response aggregators but is flexible enough to accommodate them.
Adapting international experience to the Jordanian context
Following the presentation, a panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Christian Nabe from Guidehouse on the suitability of the regulatory fields of action to the Jordan context and other tools that can further enhance enabling conditions. Panelists included Eng. Reem Al-Bzour (MEMR), Eng. Hussam Al-Atili (NEPCO), Eng. Amaal Khatatbeh (EMRC), and Isabelle Gerkens (EGI). Discussions focused on regulatory priorities, implementation challenges, and enabling conditions.
The need for performance-based incentives and subsidies for enabling technologies was emphasized by the panel, as well as the importance of aggregators for small consumers. The large-scale rollout of smart meters in Jordan and the availability of reliable load profile data were identified as critical enablers, noting that full smart meter deployment is expected by year-end. The panel further discussed the potential of regulatory sandboxes to test flexibility schemes before broader implementation.
In closing, Dr. Christian Nabe summarized the workshop’s outcomes, emphasizing the importance of piloting, robust data infrastructure with the ultimate aim to minimizing renewables’ curtailment. The MENALINKS programme will continue working with MEMR, NEPCO, EMRC, and industry stakeholders to develop a comprehensive industry demand-side flexibility framework and implementation roadmap, prioritizing win-win solutions for the energy system and industrial sector.