By: Oil & gas middle east

Kuwait is ramping up investment in natural gas and renewable energy to address vulnerabilities in its electricity system, which has been strained by soaring summer heat, ageing infrastructure, and frequent blackouts.

Renewables currently account for less than 1% of Kuwait’s generation mix. The government has set a target of 15% by 2030, but Rystad Energy forecasts this goal will likely be delayed until 2035. The consultancy projects Kuwait's renewable capacity will reach just 3.3 GW (around 7% of generation) by 2030, potentially exceeding 11 GW (supplying about 20% of demand) by 2035.

The country's grid has struggled with rising consumption. Kuwait has 21 GW of installed power capacity, but only 17 GW is reliably available during peak months. With summer temperatures reaching 50°C and demand peaking at 17.7 GW, outages caused rolling blackouts and shortages of over 1.5 GW in May.

Kuwait is banking on solar PV, backed by more than 3,300 hours of sunshine annually, to deliver cost-effective power during peak afternoon demand. However, natural gas will remain critical as a transitional fuel. Rystad Energy projects gas-fired power generation will increase 17% to 77 TWh by 2030.

To meet future needs, Kuwait plans five large-scale gas-fired power plants adding 18 GW of capacity by 2035. On the import side, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation recently signed a 15-year agreement with QatarEnergy for up to 3 million tonnes per annum of LNG supply.

By shifting power generation from oil (which accounts for 40% of the mix) to gas, Kuwait aims to free up crude for export, maintaining vital export revenues while addressing rising domestic power demand.