Med-Enec backed West Bank geothermal pilot project presented at Ramallah conference

The pilot project is one unit in a complex of 62 "conventional" semi-detached villas built on an area of 24,000 square metres. The 390 square metres demonstration villa includes three floors, a walk-out basement and a garage. The main elements of the energy concept for the building are good insulation of the basement floor, walls and windows, and the use of geothermal energy. 10 vertical boreholes, each 70 metres deep, deliver enough energy to the 23 KW heating and cooling system with two heat pumps in order to reduce annual heating and cooling costs from $3,300 to merely $850 per year. This produces energy cost savings of over 70%, which means that, with the high energy prices in Palestine, the pay-back period is less than five years.

Almost a hundred delegates at the conference, joined by an additional fifty participants in the Gaza Strip through a video-conference link, had the opportunity to see the geothermal equipment and to experience the air conditioned rooms in the demonstration village.

MENA Geothermal, a new company created by UCI to disseminate geothermal energy in the region because of the success of the pilot project, and which benefited from the acquired know-how, has already received numerous requests from countries in the region, including Jordan and Israel. UCI, utilising the Med-Enec pilot project experience, which reduced learning costs and built up pioneering know-how, to overcome initial market barriers, has equipped its newly constructed Ramallah headquarters with another large geothermal system, saving $30,000 of energy costs and 40 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

The EU-financed project "Energy Efficiency in the Construction Sector in the Mediterranean (Med-Enec)" aims at providing a boost for energy efficient measures and the use of renewable energy in the construction sectors of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.

Med-Enec has an integrated project approach, combining activities for the improvement of framework conditions such as laws, standards and incentive programmes with demonstration projects, capacity building and the promotion of business cooperation and technology transfer. UCI was selected in 2006 as a winner in an international competition for project proposals for energy-efficient houses in 10 countries south and east of the Mediterranean, and Med-Enec has supported the pilot project with technical assistance and a financial contribution.

"This was a great boost for our efforts and a great incentive to pursue geothermal technology,"

said Khaled Al Sabawi, president of MENA Geothermal Ltd.

"The EU clearly understands the difficult of implementing a new technology and the importance of the success of the first project, and we were excited to start operations," he concluded.