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Kuwait to spend more than $2.5b on power expansion
Kuwait plans to launch tenders for power expansion worth more than $2.5 billion to meet rapid growth in power demand through 2015, a government official said.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 June 7, 2008
Kuwait City: Kuwait plans to launch tenders for power expansion worth more than $2.5 billion to meet rapid growth in power demand through 2015, a government official said.
Record oil export revenues are fuelling econ-omic growth throughout the Gulf. Population growth in the world's seventh-largest oil exporter was driving power needs higher, said Khalid Al Wasmi, assistant undersecretary at the Ministry of Electricity and Water.
"The main reason for the new plants is housing plans," Wasmi said.
"The government is building new residential areas where demand is high. These projects will secure electricity until 2014-2015."
The Gulf state has shortlisted six firms for a tender to build combined cycle gas turbine units for a northern power plant with a capacity of 2,000 mega-watts, Wasmi said.
He declined to give an estimate of the cost of the project, but said it would be worth more than a previous 600 million euro ($925.7 million) project to boost capacity at another plant.
Kuwait will launch a second tender by early 2009 to build another power plant in North Al Zour, with a capacity of 4,700 MW, Wasmi said. He declined to give a precise estimate for the cost of the plant, but said it was expected to cost more than one billion euros.
The plant will be built in four phases, to be completed in 2011. Two of the phases will have capacity of 1,500 MW, one of 900 MW and another of 800 MW.
Kuwait aims to boost its power capacity to around 16,000 MW by 2012 from around 10,000 MW.
Conservation campaign
Peak summer demand strains the capacity of the grids in the Gulf states where air-conditioners run around the clock in most households during the summer. Peak consumption was 8,620 MW at the start of June and is expected to rise in July, he said.
Kuwait last year stepped up a campaign asking residents to conserve electricity, warning power generation was nearly at breakpoint to avoid power scheduled cuts.
But Wasmi said he expected no power cuts were planned this year as the conservation campaign would continue.
Kuwait has six power stations that also desalinate water. It was building a power station in North Shuaiba with a capacity of 800 MW that will start operation in the summer of 2010, he said.
Kuwait was also installing two new gas turbines in its South Zour power station that will add another 320 MW starting in August.
Germany's Siemens won in August a contract to extend a gas turbine power plant in South Al Zour as part of a consortium in a 600 million-euro deal to increase power generation capacity by 560 MW. That plant will start up by 2010.
The pre-qualified companies for the new northern plant are US General Electric Co, Japan's Mitsui & Co and Marubeni Corporation, Siemens, Spain's Iberdrola Ingenieria Y Construccion and Canada's SNC-Lavalin Limited.
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