MEED expected Kuwait’s electricity requirement to reach 19,800 megawatts by 2020, compared with 14,042 in 2014. Peak demand in 2014 was 12,410 megawatts, up 2.9 percent from 2013.
The figures appeared in “MENA Power Requirements 2016,” covering the Middle East and North Africa, particularly the Gulf. Peak demand in GCC countries reached 89.5 gigawatts in 2014, an 8.4 percent increase from 2013.
The MENA region would need to increase generation capacity by 50 percent by 2020 to meet growing residential and industrial demand. Sharply lower oil prices since mid-2014 had delayed or canceled many projects, but investment continued.
All GCC utilities met demand in 2014, although some were more vulnerable. Kuwait alone had a reserve margin below the recommended 15 percent. The risks became apparent in 2015, when failures at Subiya power station caused outages in February and May.
The report calculated that $65.4 billion in power contracts had been awarded across MENA from September 2014 to September 2015. It expected investment to continue in 2016 as governments faced pressure to supply residential and commercial areas without interruption.
To increase capacity and modernize aging plants, Kuwait was implementing a program to generate 10,500 megawatts by 2020 and secure future requirements.