Abu Dhabi green energy firm Masdar will build a 200MW solar project in Jordan for around $300m, reported Reuters. This is Masdar’s second renewables project in Jordan and Masdar CEO, Ahmad Belhoul, said that he expected a financial close in Q4 of 2016.

He added that this project was part of Masdar’s larger ambition to double its total generating capacity in the MENA region over the next five to ten years.

Masdar currently enjoys a capacity of 1,000MW with an extra 500MW in the works. Belhoul explained that the cost of solar photovoltaic had fallen by as much as 60% to 70% in the last six years, making renewables a growth industry, aided further by climate concerns and supportive government policies. Wind power costs had gone down too, he added.

On a previous occasion Behloul was quoted by Trade Arabia as saying that global investments in renewables must double globally to at least $500b a year, if expansion targets are to be met in line with global climate plans. He also cited an International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) report arguing that doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030 could push global GDP up by more than 1%.