Summer heat wave puts strain on Qatar's energy supply

By Nasser Al-Ghanem in Doha
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-08-05

[Miles Willis/Getty Images] Energy officials in Qatar decided to reduce lighting on some Doha streets because of unusually high energy usage during the summer.

Qatar's government has launched a campaign urging residents to conserve energy in response to higher demand during an unusually hot summer.

Temperatures, which often exceed 50 degrees Celsius, are exhausting the state's electricity supply.

The Qatar Public Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) extinguished many streetlights on the main streets of Doha and in other cities to conserve electricity.

Daily reports on electricity loads in Qatar revealed increased demand for electricity compared with the same period last year. The minimum demand for electricity on July 28th reached 353,000 watts compared with 315,000 watts on the same day in 2009. The maximum for the same day was 4,525,000 watts this year compared with 4,160,000 watts in 2009.

"With the start of summer, a campaign was launched to ration water and electricity, said Issa Al-Kuwari, managing director of Kahramaa. "The campaign, under the slogan 'conserve to last', seeks to preserve the nation's vital natural resources."

Al-Kuwari said the campaign includes outreach programmes aimed at all segments of society, "in addition to many external activities with various institutions and the public as well as advertising and media campaigns."

On May 10th, Qatar opened the Mesaieed electricity generating station in southern Doha. The plant has a production capacity of 2,000 megawatts, and construction cost $2.3 billion. The station may allow Qatar to export electricity to neighboring countries and will provide it with a surplus.

Residents in Qatar benefit from low electricity costs which some residents believe contribute to high usage. Electricity tariffs are 15% lower than elsewhere in the region, and Qatari nationals are exempt from paying water and electricity fees.

Abdullah bin Nasser, a Qatari citizen in his 40s, said officials should raise electricity tariffs to help reduce consumption.

Speaking with Al-Shorfa, he said, "The tariff imposed on consumption by the Water and Electricity Corporation is low and contributes to consumers wasting a large part of the energy produced."

Ibrahim Adnan, a Syrian resident in his 50s who lives in Qatar, believes there is a real waste of electricity in the way most families consume energy.

Adnan told Al-Shorfa, "I think awareness will help significantly to curtail electricity consumption. There are promotional posters set up everywhere urging conservation of electricity and water, which will contribute to lower consumption."

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