MANAMA: Gulf countries have committed over $100 billion to boost power sector. But the electricity demand in the region has been growing at around 8-9 percent per year — faster than the growth recorded in any other region of the world, an expert said yesterday.
“Over the next 10 years these countries will need to add 100 MW of additional installed power to support economies that are running at twice the growth rate of the major advanced economies,” said Nigel Blackaby, director of conferences at PennWell International Power Group.
“All the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) face the challenge of meeting the increasing electricity needs of a rapidly expanding infrastructure and increasing amounts of energy-intensive industrial development,” Blackaby told the pre-event PowerGen 2009 media briefing held here yesterday. The three-day PowerGen 2009 opens today at the Bahrain International Exhibition Center (BIEC) being held under the patronage of Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa. “GCC countries have already committed $100 billion to the power sector and the ambitious plans for added electricity infrastructure will require further investment of a similar order. Such a program of expansion brings with it a range of challenges, many of which will be debated at PowerGen 2009.