Kuwait announces power cuts due to high summer demand

Kuwait has announced temporary power cuts in parts of the country during peak consumption hours, saying it was struggling to meet increased demand caused by extreme summer heat.

In a statement on Wednesday, Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said the planned cuts would occur for up to two hours a day, the first such step for the OPEC member state as climate change drives temperatures higher.

She blamed the cuts on “the inability of power plants to meet increased demand” during peak hours amid “higher temperatures compared to the same period in previous years.”

On Thursday, the ministry released a schedule of planned blackouts in several regions of the country, after urging residents to ration their consumption to ease the load on power plants.

Kuwait, one of the largest crude producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is considered one of the hottest desert countries in the world.

In recent years, climate change has made summer peaks warmer and longer.

Extreme heat increases the need for energy-hungry air conditioners, which are ubiquitous in Kuwait during the summer months.

Temperatures hovered around 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday, according to Kuwait’s meteorological department.

“What we are experiencing today is the result of climate change,” said Kuwaiti astronomer and scientist Adel Al-Saadoun, noting that temperatures are expected to exceed 50 degrees Celsius in the coming days.

Last month, Kuwait signed short-term contracts to buy 500 megawatts of electricity, including 300 MW from Oman and 200 MW from Qatar, during the summer months. The contracts run from June 1 to August 31.

Kamel Harami, a Kuwaiti energy expert, said the Gulf state needed to revamp its energy infrastructure.

“The available energy is not enough, and instead of relying on oil and gas, we must move towards nuclear, solar and wind,” he told AFP.

“This is just the beginning of the crisis, and the planned power cuts will continue in the years to come if we do not accelerate the construction of power plants.”

Umm Mohammed, a Kuwaiti woman in her 60s, said she was without electricity for two hours on Wednesday.

“We were not seriously affected,” she told AFP, adding that the house remained cool during the brief outage.

“Some people are turning their homes into refrigerators, even when they’re not inside, and that’s increasing the load” on power plants, she said.

str/ho/it