AN ANCIENT city is being powered in a very modern way.
Petra, the UNESCO World Heritage Site city in Jordan, now receives all its energy from a $5million solar project which was officially opened on Friday (September 10).
The project makes enough electricity (250 kilowatts) to supply restaurants, museums, an emergency clinic and a campsite.
The solar power project will also put an end to the environmental, visual and noise pollution problems the old diesel generators created.
The leakage of diesel used to change the rocks’ rose-red color into a dirty gray as well as causing a pungent smell.
During the inauguration ceremony, Mikio Sasaki, chairman of the Jordanian-Japanese Friendship Society and senior corporate adviser of the Mitsubishi Corporation, said the project would help protect archaeological sites in Jordan and provide renewable energy.
Petra's has been inhabited since prehistoric times and is situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea.
It is one of the world's most famous archaeological sites and the city is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges.