​Contact Info:
National Energy Research Center (NERC), Photovoltaics & Rational Use of Energy & Solar Thermal Division, POB 1945 Al-Jubaiha, Amman, 11941 Jordan
Tel: +962 6 5338 042
Fax: +962 6 5338 043 (PI).
firas.alawneh@nerc.gov.jo
 
Academic education
B.Sc.  1993   Electrical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
 
Professional experience
Head of Photovoltaics Division at the National Energy Research Center in Amman since July 2005. From January 2000 to June 2005, Head of IT & GIS Division at the National Energy Research Center. Between 1994 and 1999, Research Engineer at the Photovoltaic Division of the Renewable Energy Research Center (RERC), Royal Scientific Society (RSS), Amman, Jordan. 
 
Research interests
Renewable Energy Sources, Renewable Energy Systems, Renewable Energy Economics, Solar Radiation Measurements and Evaluation, Design and Sizing of Solar Photovoltaic Systems, Supply and Commissioning of Solar Photovoltaic Systems.
 
Research activities (from 2000 up to date)
 
(A) Expert and Scientific Missions
-December 15 - 19, 2008: Steering committee meeting / OPEN-GAIN project funded by the European Commission. Tunis-Tunisia.
-October 6 - 9, 2008: Steering committee meeting / RAMseS project funded by the European Commission. Warsaw-Poland. April 15 - 18 2008: A study visit to Durham University in UK to have a look on wind Permanent Magnet Generator (PMG) laboratories to design and implement a PMG wind generator at NERC laboratories in Jordan. Durham – UK.
-July 27 - 31, 2008: A study visit to Photovoltaic Systems Laboratories at the Center for Renewable Energy Sources (CRES) through the twining project funded by the European Commission. Athens-Greece.
-Jan. 13 - 15, 2008: “Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency” Workshop organized by the Association of Middle Eastern and US Academies of Sciences, Kempenski, Dead Sea
– Jordan.
-Sep. 3 - 6 2007: Fifth Jordanian International Mining Conference. Participating with a paper titled "Annual Hourly Simulation for a Grid Connected PV System in Jordan – A Lab Experiment"
-Oct. 31 – Nov. 1, 2007: The 3rd Conference on Technology Commercialization held in Amman-Jordan, organized by the Royal Scientific Society. Amman-Jordan.
-May 21 – 25, 2006: Conference and Exhibition "Desalination Strategies in South Mediterranean Countries", EuroMed2006, Montpellier-France. Participating with a paper titled "RESYSproDESAL in Jordan -A Case Study on De-central Water and Power Production by BWRO Integrating Solar Energy".
-July 26 – 27, 2005: Kick-off meeting of RESYSproDESAL project funded by the European Commission. Graz-Austria.
-April 2 – 4, 2001: The Seventh Jordanian Geological Conference. Participating with a paper titled "Studying Hydrocarbon Source Rocks of Jordan using GIS Software", Amman-Jordan. 
-Jun. 3 – 6, 2003: The Atlas Thematic Seminar "Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Energy and Environment Planning in Urban Cities for the Mediterranean Countries" organized by the Center for Renewable Energy Studies (CRES), Athens-Greece. 
-May 14 – 17, 2006: The Eighth Arab Energy Conference organized by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Jordan, Amman-Jordan. 
-   Feb. 9 – 10, 2007: Regional meeting "Status and Potentials of Renewable Energy Technologies in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Jordan" organized by Green Line Association, Beirut-Lebanon.
 
(B) Training
-   May 4 – 8, 2009: SMA Solar Inverters Manufacturers Solar Academy Workshop
-Dec. 21 - 24, 2008: Training course “Report Writing” held in Amman-Jordan, organized by Team International / Amman-Jordan. -Dec. 1 - 4, 2008: Training course “Strategic Planning” held in Amman-Jordan, organized by Team International / Amman-Jordan.  -Aug. 4-7, 2008: Training course “Quality Management System ISO 9001: 2000 and TQM” held in Amman-Jordan, organized by Team International / Amman-Jordan.  -Sept. 9 - 10, 2007: Workshop organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Jordan tilted "The One Minute Management Techniques”. Amman-Jordan  -Jul. 26 –27, 2005: The Standard Training Course for the IPSEpro Design Suite, organized by Simulation Technology Company, SimTech, Graz-Austria.
-Mar. 26 - 29, 2007: Training course "Advanced Reverse Osmosis Desalination" held in Amman-Jordan, organized by the Middle East Desalination Research Center (MEDRC), Muscat-Oman. A lecture titled "Water Desalination Using Renewable Energies" was presented.
-Jan. 18- 28, 2003: Training course "Hybrid Photovoltaic/Utility Power Supply for a Water Reverse Osmosis Desalination Unit" organized by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Denver-USA. 
-Jan. 27- May 2, 2002: Training Course "Web Computing" organized by The Computer Center in The Royal Scientific Society (Introduction to Unix, HTML & Javascript, Java Programming Language, Java Servlets, Java Server Pages, XML Programming, WAP Programming), Amman-Jordan.
 
Selection of recent publications
-Firas M. Alawneh “RESYSproDESAL in Jordan - A Case Study on De-central Water and Power Production by BWRO Integrating Solar Energy” “Desalination Strategies in South Mediterranean Countries, EuroMed 2006” Montpellier, France, 2006.
-Firas M. Alawneh, Sura H. Deebajeh “Annual Hourly Simulation for a Grid Connected PV System in Jordan – A Lab Experiment” “Fifth Jordanian International Mining Conference” Amman, Jordan, 2007.
-National Energy Research Center “Solar Powered Desalination and Pumping Unit for Brackish Water in Jordan”. Submitted to National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL), USA. Amman-Jordan, February, 2006.