page_title: First Jordan Hydro-Electric Power House
section_title: Concession
hierarchical_section_title: First Jordan Hydro-Electric Power House / Concession
caption_attribution_description: English: Jordan Water Power Development plans by Rutenberg, from the Palestine Electric Company archives
context_page_description: The First Jordan Hydro-Electric Power House, also known as the Rutenberg Power Station or the Naharayim Power Plant or the Tel Or Power Plant, was a conventional dammed hydroelectric power station on the Jordan river, which operated between 1932 and 1948. It was situated in the Emirate of Transjordan, but built to supply power to Mandatory Palestine. The plant was built in an area known as Jisr el-Majami, later renamed by the Palestine Electric Corporation as Naharayim, and following the Israel–Jordan peace treaty it is today part of the Jordanian area of Baqoura.
  The plant was constructed – under concession from the Mandatory government – by Pinhas Rutenberg's Palestine Electric Corporation, based on a plan put forward in 1926. It followed his original 1920 Rutenberg plan to build ten reservoirs and fourteen hydroelectric plants on the Jordan river. Financial capital for the project came from the worldwide Jewish community, organized with limited publicity in order to allow Rutenberg to be presented as an "entrepreneur" rather than part of the Zionist Organization.
context_section_description: On 8 December 1920, Pinhas Rutenberg submitted a 60 page proposal to the British government, proposing to build 14 hydroelectric power stations along the Jordan River On 21 September 1921, a concession agreement was signed between the British Government and Rutenberg granting him a monopoly over "utilization of such of the waters of the River Jordan and its basin including the Yarmuk River and all other affluents" and a right to "erect a power house near Jisr-el-Mujamyeh". This agreement required Rutenberg to form a company with at least GBP1 million of capital within two years; such company was formed, named the Palestine Electric Corporation (PEC). The concession was then formalized on 5 March 1926 for a 70-year period and validated in Mandatory Palestine by the Electricity Concessions Ordinance 1927 and in the Emirate of Transjordan by the Electricity Concession Law, 1928.
caption: Palestine Electric Company: Plans for the three power stations across the region
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