Bid to design, operate Kuwait’s 1st thermal solar energy station
‘KISR inks $52m deal with Spanish firm’
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 29: Director of Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) Nagy Al-Mutairi says KISR has signed a contract worth $52 million with a Spanish company TSK Group last month to design, establish and operate the country’s first station for production of electricity using thermal solar energy with capacity of 50MW, reports AlFanar Media.
He indicated that the solar-energy station ‘Al-Shagaya Station’ will be a “cornerstone” for the implementation of a new regional approach for prioritizing solar energy.
Al-Mutairi explained that this renewable energy station can meet the electricity needs of 150,000 residential units throughout the year. The project should result in saving about 12 million barrels of oil annually. It is expected to account for 15 percent of the country’s yearly energy needs by 2030, and provide 1,200 jobs in operation and maintenance. This station will also diminish Kuwait’s carbon dioxide emissions, one of the major causes of global warming.
In this regard, some scientists affirmed that this new contract signifies the potential of Kuwait and other countries of the region in applied research, which should be encouraged with more public and private investments in the field of science.
End of last year, His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah had announced during the 18th Conference on Climate Change in Doha that Kuwait plans to meet about 15 percent of its domestic energy needs using renewable energy by 2030. Several other Arab countries had also made similar declarations during that conference.
Vision Based on the Amir’s vision, KISR, which is one of the country’s main promoters of scientific research, has been seeking the implementation of necessary technology and the development of renewable energy in Kuwait.
However, Al-Mutairi revealed that Kuwait, despite its oil wealth, allocates a modest budget for scientific research, which is about 0.1 percent of its GDP. On the other hand, many developed countries spend about 2.5 percent of GDP on scientific research.
A faculty member at Kuwait University’s Medical Sciences Center Hamad Mohammad Ali Yaseen stressed that the funding aspect is not the main barrier to scientific research in Kuwait, revealing that lengthy bureaucratic procedures is the real problem.
He explained, “Obtaining adequate funding for research is possible through several bodies including Kuwait University and the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. However, bureaucracy is the main obstacle, as it can take up to a year to obtain even modest quantities of basic research materials and supplies. Ordering them requires the same lengthy procedures as multi-million-dollar projects”.
According to the statistics issued by UNESCO in 2010, there are 166 researchers for every million individuals in Kuwait. This figure is higher than in the neighboring country Saudi Arabia where there are 42 researchers for every million individuals. On the other hand, there are 7,707 researchers among every million individuals in Finland.
Meanwhile, Qatar had announced that it will dedicate 2.8 percent of GDP to research and development but it was unable to reach this target mainly because of lack of qualified researchers.
Research The main focus of scientific research in Kuwait, particularly in Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research is on the oil, water, and energy sectors. For this purpose, KISR is allocated an annual budget of KD 107 million which is equivalent to $354 million.
KISR is also working on a number of other renewable-energy projects including a national laboratory for photoelectric panels with capacity of 102 kilowatts each, and a project of using photoelectric cells to meet the energy demands in Kuwaiti schools.
Revealing that KISR has embraced the idea of commercializing its research, which is still rare in the region and sometimes frowned upon, Al-Mutairi affirmed, “Commercialization has become a basic element in research-institute programs to build competitive advantage, entrench the culture of quality, and upgrade innovative and creative activities.”
Earlier, the Kuwaiti Cabinet agreed to form a committee to establish a holding research company with capital of KD 10 million ($33 million).
KISR submitted a request to the Kuwaiti government to establish three commercial companies - one for bottling desalinated water, second for tissue culture, and other for technical petroleum services.
However, Hamed Al-Hamoud, a researcher in economics who works at KISR and another enterprise, says scientific research in Kuwait requires more involvement from the private sector.
He asked, “Taking Apple and Pfizer Pharmaceutical Companies as examples, would they continue to flourish without investment in scientific research?”
Al-Hamoud stressed, “In developed countries, scientific research is not limited to statefunded institutions. The entire society encourages the development of scientific research. There is usually cooperation between the private sector and the universities to fund research. This concept is not present either in Kuwait or in the Arab world.”
(Source - Al-Fanar Media)