Today, Thursday, the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy in Kuwait announced a programmed cut of electricity to some areas in the country when needed during the peak period, successively from 11 am to 5 pm local time for a period ranging from one to two hours if the need arises. .
Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) quoted a statement from the Ministry that the timing of the programmed cutoff for each region will be announced one hour before the specified date through the Ministry’s official accounts on social media platforms.
The names of the areas expected to be cut off from electricity are indicated in attached tables.
Generation capacity
The Ministry explained, in a previous statement yesterday evening, Wednesday, that the outage “came as a result of the inability of electric power generation stations to meet the increasing demand for electrical loads during the peak period,” in light of “the high temperatures compared to the same periods in previous years.”
This is the first time that the authorities have announced such measures due to a shortage in electricity production.
Although the population of Kuwait is accustomed to hot weather, the country is increasingly affected by climate change caused mainly by the consumption of fossil fuels, such as oil, of which Kuwait is one of its largest exporters.
Agence France-Presse quoted Kuwaiti expert Adel Al-Saadoun as saying: “The temperature often exceeded 50 degrees Celsius in July, but it reached 51 degrees yesterday.”
He added, “What we are experiencing today is the result of the climate changes that the whole world is witnessing.”
Two decades
The agency quoted Kuwaiti Umm Muhammad, who lives in the Umm Al-Hayman area (south), as saying that she witnessed a power outage in her home for two hours on Wednesday.
The sixty-year-old woman said: “We were not greatly affected. The house was closed and kept cool. We often turned off the air conditioning for a certain period of time every day. Some people turn their house into a refrigerator without him being in the house, and this raises the electrical loads.”
While an activist wrote on the X platform, criticizing the decision: “May God help those who are sick and elderly,” adding, “We still have not entered the month of 7 and 8.”
Last month, Kuwait signed short-term contracts to purchase 300 megawatts from the Sultanate of Oman and 200 megawatts from Qatar through the Gulf Cooperation Council Electricity Interconnection Authority, covering the summer period.
The agency quoted Kuwaiti energy expert Kamel Al-Harami, saying, “This is the beginning of the crisis, and the programmed cutoff of electricity will continue in the coming years if we do not accelerate the construction of electrical plants through exceptional measures,” calling on the authorities to “turn toward nuclear, solar, and wind energy.”
Kuwait, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), owns 7% of the world’s crude oil reserves, and its sovereign wealth fund is one of the largest sovereign funds in the world.
