Dimensions and benefits of the Persian Gulf power grid connection project

According to the exclusive report of Energy Press; Recently, a severe electricity crisis has engulfed a number of Arab countries, which is rooted in crises such as lack of fuel needed to run stations, insufficient gas production, or lack of currency for imports. So, Kuwait was the last country that faced power outages due to increased consumption. Also, Egypt will inevitably increase the number of hours of power outage instead of 2 to 3 hours per day. This crisis also covers Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq, so that the number of Arab countries involved reaches 7 countries.

Power outage in Egypt

Egypt has witnessed an electricity crisis since May 2023, which caused the government to increase the one-hour power outage periods to two hours and has affected the performance of the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy. Also, the last severe heat wave caused Egypt to increase the number of hours of power outages to 3 on June 23, due to the reduction of the gas supply required by the stations from 25 to 13 million cubic meters. Cairo witnessed a decrease in natural gas production in the first quarter of 2024, so that the total production in the period from January to the end of March 2024 reached about 13.429 billion cubic meters, which compared to the same period of 2023, about 2.108 billion cubic meters. Dropped.

Contagion of the crisis to Kuwait

On June 19, 2024, the citizens and residents of the Government of Kuwait were surprised by a strange announcement of its kind, as the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy announced that it is setting up a plan to automatically cut off electricity as a result of increased consumption due to a severe heat wave. It is in the country. This statement was surprising, because the country of Kuwait is not used to electricity crisis and its network has been highly stable in the past years, especially in the connection to the Persian Gulf countries, which allows imports to this country.

Kuwait’s crisis occurs in a situation where 400 megawatts are entering the country’s grid daily from the Persian Gulf connection network to meet the needs of the local grid, but this amount is not enough to meet the increasing demand during peak consumption. According to some statements, the power outage in Kuwait will continue until mid-September 2024.

The heavy shadow of the war in Yemen

In recent years, Yemen has faced a severe electricity crisis, and power outages lasting more than 16 hours a day are a major crisis for the government. The Prime Minister of Yemen apologized to the citizens of his country last May because his government was forced to cut off electricity due to the lack of fuel needed to run power plants. In 2023, Yemen spent huge sums of money to build strategic power stations, and the country even eliminated leased stations. For example, the Yemeni government spends about two million dollars a day for power stations in Aden province.

Electricity crisis in Syria

Syria is facing an electricity crisis due to the 12-year civil war, and therefore, this country is facing the complete destruction of its infrastructure as well as electricity transmission networks, which is caused by the theft of high and medium voltage masts with the aim of selling the copper contained in them on the black market. , this challenge is intensifying. Due to this crisis, high-income people have turned to solar energy, which provides them with clean but sometimes unstable electricity. Of course, citizens in some cities such as Aleppo and Damascus buy electricity from private power plants.

The continuation of the Syrian electricity crisis is still unclear, and the power outages from government power plants are irregular and may reach up to 20 hours a day. While the facilities and services for hospitals and water stations have been improving, the electricity situation of houses has not witnessed any serious change in the last two years.

Power outage in Iraq

Despite the improvement of the electricity sector in Iraq, especially after the use of natural gas, stopping burning and directing it to power plants, this country still has an electricity crisis in the summer. It should be noted that Baghdad is still dependent on Iranian gas. Some provinces of Iraq, despite the government’s attention to this sector, witness power outages for different periods of time, because the goal of new development plans is to add 200 new units, in addition to providing more fuel. Iraq’s Minister of Electricity, Ziad Ali Fadel, recently announced the country’s total electricity deficit of about 13,000 megawatts.

Lebanon crisis

Lebanon has been facing a severe electricity crisis in the last three decades, but its intensity has increased significantly in the last two years due to the country’s dependence on oil for electricity supply. The duration of electricity outages in Lebanon reaches about 20 hours a day and is likely to increase in some areas, because as a result of the economic crisis, especially after the reduction of diesel imports from 2020 onwards, this crisis has intensified.