The UAE needs an additional 6600 MW ($5.1 billion) capacity by the year 2010 to power its projected economic growth.According to BP's 2007 Statistical Review of World Energy, electricity production in the Middle East grew 8.9 per cent between 2005 and 2006, faster than the growth recorded in any other region, including Asia Pacific, which grew by 8.5 per cent. Yet, power production was to scale up to the soaring demand.
"More importantly from the global perspective as Mid East power production rises to meet surging demand, more hydrocarbons that might once have been exported are instead being burned to create electricity for local consumption. And that means less oil and natural gas will reach the global market," the report said.
The creation of the GCC Power Grid, a multi-billion-dollar project that will link the six GCC countries with an integrated electricity grid by 2010 is expected to give a fillip to the power scenario, even as the six nations pump in major investments into the expansion of the national and regional power grids.
In United Arab Emirates, the government plans to expand its 9,500 MW of installed capacity by over 50 per cent over the next 10 years.
Source: To read a more extensive report about the UAE and the GCC countries, check this link:
‘GCC Power Demand Increases 100,000 Megawatts’, Bahrain Tribune, MENAFM.COM, 22 December 2007.
