Utilities

Kuwait: Feeling the heat

For a country that holds around 8 per cent of global oil reserves, it may be difficult to believe that Kuwait faces domestic power concerns. Kuwaitis have been experiencing record temperatures in June, prompting power outages in a number of residential areas and bringing to light concerns over the country's pressing need for increased power generation capacity. The nation has one of the world's highest per capita consumption rates of electricity, and during the summer months, when temperatures hover around 50°C, it is estimated that around 70 per cent of energy is consumed by air conditioning units. At present output levels, Kuwait is capable of producing 11,200 MW of electricity. Yet on June 13, with soaring temperatures in the low 50s, consumption reached a record 10,823 MW (98.5 per cent of grid capacity). Analysts forecast demand to reach around 11,000 MW during the coming few months, up 13.4 per cent from last year's peak summer demand of 9961 MW. Considering that most countries strive to operate with a spare capacity of around 15 per cent, authorities in Kuwait have been setting up emergency meetings and working out strategies to ensure summer outages do not become a regular occurrence. Kuwait has not built new plants since 1998, and over that period has seen an annual average growth rate in power demand of 8 per cent. While new power plants are in the planning and construction stages, no new plants are set to come on-line until next summer at the earliest. In September 2009 the government signed a $2.7bn deal with General Electric and Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea to build a 2000-MW gas-fired plant at Subbiya in the north of the country. The plant is expected to be operational in June 2011 and produce 1320 MW, with an additional 680 MW to be produced by 2012. (Source: OBG)

Egypt-Saudi power grid link cost seen at US$1.5bn

A project aimed at linking the power grids of electricity-hungry countries Egypt and Saudi Arabia to help meet peak-time demand is expected to cost about US$1.5 billion, an Egyptian official said. An international tender for work on the project is scheduled for January 2011, Electricity Ministry Undersecretary Aktham Abul Ela said. Egypt will send Saudi Arabia electricity through the connection in the afternoons and Saudi Arabia will send electricity to Egypt in the evenings, taking advantage of the difference in the countries' peak use hours, he added. He said the two countries would split the cost of the project - which aims to exchange 3,000 megawatts of electricity between the countries through direct current electrical lines - based on the amount of work on their land. "Every country will pay the cost of this project on their land," Abul Ela said. "Egypt about 450 km, and the rest in Saudi." The project is expected to include 1,300 km of power lines in total. Abu Ela said pricing was not set yet, but it was possible the two countries would not need to pay one another because they would exchange equal amounts of electricity.