Syrian refugee camp in Jordan goes solar
A German-built solar power facility is helping to improve life for residents of the Zaatari Syrian refugee camp and other camps in Jordan through clean energy.
Umm Khalil, a Syrian who settled in 2012 in the Zaatari refugee camp, now has electricity 14 hours a day in her caravan since power began to be generated through solar panels Nov. 13. In the past, the 80,000 refugees in the Zaatari camp, 53 miles northeast of Amman in Mafraq, suffered regularly from power outages, receiving power through Jordan's electrical system for only six hours a day, which made life extremely difficult in the desert camp.
Umm Khalil told Al-Monitor, “We were suffering. We were not able to save the food in the refrigerators or run fans for cooling the air at noon, with the temperature reaching 40 degrees [104 degrees Fahrenheit] in the camp. Life is very difficult with the lack of electricity supply.”
