A flurry of recent non-conventional power project announcements suggests that the drive by MENA governments to seek alternatives to hydrocarbons for fuelling power generation is gathering pace. While work on a number of world-scale conventional hydrocarbon-fuelled and nuclear plants has begun lately, the announcement of a variety of non-conventional projects – both small and large – shows generators are considering all options in their bid to outpace strong regional power demand growth.
Kuwait’s Ministry of Finance announced on 19 September that it has appointed HSBC bank as consultant for the development of a 280MW integrated solar combined cycle plant at Al-Abdaliya, which will incorporate 60MW of solar capacity. The project will be developed through Kuwait’s Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) in cooperation with the Ministry of Electricity and Water. PTB said a feasibility study for the project is under way. In June Kuwait invited bids for construction of a 70MW solar plant at Shaqaya by 2016, under a plan to develop 2GW of renewable power capacity by 2030. (CONTINUED - 802 WORDS)
