The Role of Natural Gas in Kuwait's Power Evolution

Core Insights - Kuwait is facing challenges with extreme heat, aging infrastructure, and power outages, leading to significant investments in grid reliability [1][2] - The country aims to increase renewable energy's share in electricity generation from less than 1% to 15% by 2030, but projections suggest a more realistic target of 7% by 2030 and 20% by 2035 [1][3] Group 1: Current Energy Landscape - Kuwait has 21 GW of installed capacity, but only about 17 GW is reliably available during peak months due to maintenance and aging plants [2] - Peak electricity demand reached 17.7 GW in July, with unplanned outages causing shortages exceeding 1.5 GW during peak demand in May [2] Group 2: Renewable Energy Transition - Kuwait plans to invest heavily in solar PV, leveraging over 3,300 hours of sunlight annually, which supports high PV output [3] - Rystad Energy projects that renewable capacity will reach 3.3 GW by 2030, with a more realistic target of 15% renewables share by 2035 [1][3] Group 3: Role of Natural Gas - Natural gas is expected to play a crucial role in Kuwait's energy future, with gas power generation projected to increase by 17% to 77 TWh by 2030 [4] - Gas production is forecasted to rise by 38%, and overall gas demand is expected to increase by 30% in the next five years [4] Group 4: Infrastructure Development - Kuwait plans to build five large-scale gas-fired power plants, adding 18 GW of capacity and raising total gas power capacity to over 32 GW by 2035 [5] - The state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation has secured a 15-year LNG supply agreement with QatarEnergy for up to 3 million tonnes per annum [5]