Seven overhead lines were taken offline in Kuwait on 24 March, causing partial electricity blackouts. The damage was caused by debris from the interception of Iranian missiles and drones fired at the Gulf state. The Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy (MEWRE) said the same day that four of the lines had been repaired. MEWRE has increased its operational capacity and preparedness for any outages. Kuwait’s power infrastructure was either directly targeted or suffered collateral damage on multiple occasions over the past month. On 2 March, a drone was intercepted but its debris set a fuel tank on fire at the 2.4GW Doha West complex. Operations were not impacted and the fire was quickly contained (MEES, 6 March).
So far the grid has fared better than Kuwait’s refineries, where strikes on the Mina Al Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries last week led to a further curtailment in refinery runs (MEES, 20 March). Kuwait’s power sector is especially vulnerable. The generation fleet is old, and installed capacity has even shrunk in recent years, from 20.25GW in 2021 to 19.63GW. The longer the conflict drags on, the higher the risk of significant damage. On 25 March, the Kuwaiti National Guard intercepted multiple missiles and drones, but a fuel storage facility at Kuwait International Airport was directly hit by drones and was set ablaze. There were no fatalities. (CONTINUED - 223 WORDS)