KOC says satisfied with solar power plant’s ‘performance’
MEW installs 1,000 smart meters in various areas
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 26, (KUNA): Kuwait Oil Company said on Wednesday that one of its key solar power stations in western Kuwait is operating efficiently with 31,000 barrels of oil per day.
The “Sedra 500” power plant generates 10 megawatts of electricity per day, with seven to nine megawatts going to some 29 oil-pumping stations, Imad Safar, a KOC engineer, told the press on the sidelines of a seminar organized by the Kuwaiti oil ministry.
The cost of solar energy has largely declined as a result of advancements in technology, Yousef Al-Khaldi, another KOC engineer, said, putting the cost of the “Sedra 500” power station at $28 million.
Meanwhile, on such seminars over oil-related issues, the ministry’s public relations officer Sheikha Tamdur Al-Sabah said that the aim is to educate the public and spread knowledge.
She added that the seminars offer all of the latest information germane to renewable and alternative energy, given His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s plan to have 15 percent of domestic power generation come from renewables by the year 2030.
With one of the highest rates of power consumption per capita in the world, Kuwait will reap the biggest benefits from adopting renewable production technologies, she said.
Meanwhile, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Electricity and Water Mohammad Boushehri said Wednesday the ministry installed nearly 1,000 smart meters randomly in various areas in the country, starting from Abdullah Al-Mubarak area.
The ministry aims to check out the possibility of using smart meters system, Boushehri stated to KUNA, adding the ministry will activate the system officially by Q1 2019.
The smart meters will facilitate reading energy consumption for consumers and the ministry, he said, noting consumption could be tracked around the clock via personal cellular phones.
The smart units would also measure consumption volumes and calculate bills, he indicated, adding payments can be made via the ministry’s application to smart phones and official website, in addition to its several branches around the country.
Smart meters would boost trust between consumers and the ministry, Boushehri said, noting the ministry has a strategic plan aimed to enhance all services provided to consumers as part of implementing eGovernment system, and benefiting from technology in general.