11 June 2009
"Yemen's current energy production is 800 megawatts while the power shortage is estimated at 250 megawatts," said Abdul-Mu'men Mutahar, General Manager of Electricity Corporation.
With the advent of summer and a rise of the number of workshops and business stores, demand for energy has increased across the country, posing an additional burden on already overworked power stations.
The energy problem has increased this year in an unprecedented way due to the increased demand for energy. This in turn is causing a massive power shortage throughout Yemen due to the heavy burden on the national power network.
"The electricity shortage in Sana'a alone currently ranges between 40 to 50 megawatts," said Saeed Al-Qubati, senior engineer at the National Energy Control (NEC).
However, there are other governorates such as Hadramout, Shabawa, and Mahra that are not linked to the national network. These governorates receive their electricity through private electric generators, said another engineer at the NEC.
The real problem of Yemen
Local control centers across Yemen give central cities priority by reducing the hours of blackouts in the main cities and make up for this shortage by increasing power outages in the outskirts.
"We try to save electricity for central Sana'a by increasing the hours of electrical shortages outside the city, like at Bani Husheish," said an official at Sana'a's electricity control center.
"Electricity is Yemen's real problem, not unrest or the southern movement. People lose their working hours because of increased blackouts that now reach up to six hours a day," said Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakimi, a carpentry workshop owner who bought a 70 kilowatt generator for YR 800,000 in order to operate his machines.
Meanwhile, Taiz, a city which has a population of around three million people, is suffering even more from Yemen's electricity shortage. Taiz is supplied by only two electric stations: Juma'an Station, which yields 15 megawatts, and Usaifirah Station, which yields a mere ten megawatts. Ten additional megawatts of power for the city come from rented stations.
"Nowadays, there is neither electricity nor water here," said a carpenter in Taiz who owns a large workshop with a great number of workers. "We have experienced massive losses as a result of power outages. Electricity blackouts have become unbearable."
"The electricity here is off most of the time, both day and night," said Majed al-Jaberi from Saber district, Taiz governorate. "Power outages have caused us problems and damaged our household appliances."
Hot cities are excluded from blackouts while others suffer more
Due to the increased demand for power in hot areas or cities in which people need energy for air conditioning, these areas are excluded from electric blackouts. The electricity deficit is made up by doubling blackouts in other cooler cities.
"We have orders from the Minister of Electricity and Energy not to disconnect power to hot cities like Hodeida and Aden," said Al-Qubati. "But if there is danger to the network as a result of keeping these cities in power, we are forced to disconnect them because I and my colleagues [at the NEC] are responsible for any damage inflected on the network."
Providing enough power to these cities means there are other cities or areas suffering from even more blackouts. These governorates are Amran, Taiz, and areas surrounding major cities.
"The same thing happens in Sana'a. To reduce the number of blackouts in Sana'a, we disconnect outside areas of the city for a long time, like at Bani Husheish, Al-Rahaba, and Bani Matar," said the Head of the Emergency Section at Al-Qa'a Power Station.
Process of disconnecting power to cities
The NEC is in charge of distributing energy to all cities connected to the National Electric Network. Every governorate has local control over its electricity which is connected to the national control.
If there is an energy shortage at the national station, the national control distributes this shortage over various cities according to need. For example, engineers at the NEC call Sana'a control if there is a power shortage and demand from officials there to disconnect 50 megawatts. These engineers continue to do the same thing with other controls in other cities.
Each city is divided into areas and these areas are divided into streets and cells. The control has a list of these areas and streets with a timetable to distribute hours of blackouts across the whole city.
Sana'a itself is divided across four areas and every area has several streets with each street having its own separate cell. For example Northern Assiteen Street is known as Cell 640 on Sana'a's power grid. This cell is on the left side of the street, while cell 641 is on the right side.
The first area in Sana'a is the Old City of Sana'a together with Al-Hasaba and its surroundings. The second area is Addaeiry, Northern Assiteen, Shamlan, Mathbah and Jader. The third region is Khawlan Street, Taiz Street, and Al-Bulaili, and the forth region is Al Zubairi Street, Aser, Haddah, Assabieen, Bait Bows and Artel.
Types of powers stations in the country
Electric stations comprising the National Electric Network are of three different kinds: steam stations, diesel stations and rented stations. All the stations together generate a total of 700 megawatts which represents the output of the whole national network.
The three steam stations are Ras Katheeb Station in Hodeida with an output of 102 megawatts, Mocha Station in Taiz with an output of 137 megawatts, and Al-Huswah Station in Lahj with 97 megawatts.
There are 13 diesel stations distributed across the country with a total output of 200 megawatts. The third type of power station, or rented stations, are also diesel. These are not stations exactly but big generators that are capable of producing a sizable amount of energy. Agrreko Power Company owns most of these generators.
Agrreko operates in seven cities
Agrreko British Company began service in Hodeida four years ago according to an agreement between the company and the government. This agreement took place during the 15th anniversary of Yemen's Reunification which was held in Hodeida in 2005.
The company then expanded service to include other six cities. The company supplies Hodeida with 50 megawatts, Sana'a 19, Aden 42, Dhamar 25, Taiz 25, Amran 31, Ibb 40 and Hajjah with four megawatts.
Rented generators exhaust the electricity budget
According to electric engineers, rented generators are exhausting the budget of the General Corporation for Electricity. Agrreko's generators are working only 12 hours a day in calm cities and 24 hours in Aden and Hodeida. "According to an agreement between the company and the corporation, the company is paid while its generators are stopped in case there is no diesel," said an electric operator engineer.
He explained that the General Corporation is responsible for providing the diesel to Agrreko, which is why the company is exhausting the corporation's budget. The Ministry of Electricity is going to end its contract with the company when Mareb gas station comes online.
Deteriorating generators
The current electricity network in Yemen is extremely old and out of date. Sometimes there is an area that suffers from a power outage for more than five hours because there is a fault in the generator.
Last Monday, electricity was off in the Northern Assiteen area of Sana'a for almost five consecutive hours. When people asked electric engineers about the cause of the problem, they were told that there is a fault in the 601 cell generator. This area witnesses more blackouts than any other area in the city.
"Power stations in the country are deteriorating. When you repair a fault here, you find another somewhere else in the country," said one engineer. "Officials committed a mistake in the mid-1990s when they bought second hand power stations," added another.
Two weeks ago, Al-Huswah 60 megawatt generator was taken from service for maintenance. This affected the whole network and power outages have since doubled.
Lost energy
Lost energy is electricity used by people who do not have access to power. Most people living in new developments such as Assunainah, Shamlan, Jameat Al-Eamone quarter, Mathbah, and Al-Matar area do not have access to electricity. They steal it by using wires from nearby electric towers that they then connect to their houses.
Because most of these areas are considered unplanned areas and constructed almost overnight, they are denied access to electricity and are not allowed to install electric organizers given to those who have new houses by the General Corporation for Electricity.
"Although I built my house six years ago, I could not get an electric organizer until now," said Abdu Ali who has a new house in Assunainah area. "I get my electricity indirectly by linking a wire from the nearby electricity column to my house."
Engineers believe lost energy is one of the reasons behind electrical shortages.
Debts reach YR billions
A recent report issued by the General Corporation for Electricity in late 2008 indicated that the debts of energy consumers to the corporation reached YR 22.1 billion.
These debts are distributed between various consumers; small consumers owe roughly YR 12 billion, government bodies owe YR 8 billion and big consumers owe YR 1 billion.
The report indicated that the biggest debt was in the main city of Sana'a with YR 4.4 billion, followed by Aden at 4.1 billion, Hodeida 2.5 billion, Taiz 1.3 billion, Ibb 1.07 billion, Sana'a governorate 1.03 billion, and Lahj YR 1 billion.
Efforts to solve the electricity problem
The president and the government are not ignoring the electricity problem. They know what is happing and that people are suffering from repeated electricity blackouts.
Last October, while inaugurating the pipeline of a strategic gas project, President Saleh argued for the government to utilize its own rich resources of natural gas to build a power station using natural gas to generate electricity. He specifically pointed out the possibility of building power stations in Mareb, Balhaf and Dhamar.
Currently the work for constructing the first power station in Mareb, or Mareb one, is being finished and will be inaugurated by September. Engineers say the problem of blackouts will be brought to an end with the new station's operation.
Beside Mareb one there is Mareb two and Mareb three. All these stations will generate a total electric output of 1000 megawatts. According to government reports, efforts are also being exerted to build two power stations in Ma'aber, Dhamar governorate. Known as Ma'aber one and Ma'aber two, each of them has an output of 500 megawatts.
Mareb one was scheduled to enter service in early 2009, but due to problems between the government and the Iranian Parsian Energy Company, which was building transformer stations to receive electricity from Mareb, the opening of the station was delayed until September.
"There is pressure from the President on the Ministry of Energy and Electricity to operate Mareb one starting in Ramadan (next September)," said an electric engineer.
Mareb one is constructed by both the German Siemens Company and Iranian Parsian Power Company with a total cost of $ 270 million, according to reports.
The poorest network in the region
Yemen's electrical network is the poorest in the region. Engineers and specialists believe that the electricity problem dates back to the early 1990s. The government managed to buy a new station, but the corrupt official bought a secondhand one.
During that period, officials exaggerated that they will connect electricity to neighboring countries like Djibouti.
"Our entire electrical output in Yemen would not be able to lighten Mecca alone, let alone Saudi Arabia," said Al-Qubati. "Saudi meanwhile has a 1,000 megawatt electricity reserve."
"Yemen's current energy production is 800 megawatts while the power shortage is estimated at 250 megawatts," said Abdul-Mu'men Mutahar, General Manager of Electricity Corporation.
With the advent of summer and a rise of the number of workshops and business stores, demand for energy has increased across the country, posing an additional burden on already overworked power stations.
The energy problem has increased this year in an unprecedented way due to the increased demand for energy. This in turn is causing a massive power shortage throughout Yemen due to the heavy burden on the national power network.
"The electricity shortage in Sana'a alone currently ranges between 40 to 50 megawatts," said Saeed Al-Qubati, senior engineer at the National Energy Control (NEC).
However, there are other governorates such as Hadramout, Shabawa, and Mahra that are not linked to the national network. These governorates receive their electricity through private electric generators, said another engineer at the NEC.
The real problem of Yemen
Local control centers across Yemen give central cities priority by reducing the hours of blackouts in the main cities and make up for this shortage by increasing power outages in the outskirts.
"We try to save electricity for central Sana'a by increasing the hours of electrical shortages outside the city, like at Bani Husheish," said an official at Sana'a's electricity control center.
"Electricity is Yemen's real problem, not unrest or the southern movement. People lose their working hours because of increased blackouts that now reach up to six hours a day," said Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakimi, a carpentry workshop owner who bought a 70 kilowatt generator for YR 800,000 in order to operate his machines.
Meanwhile, Taiz, a city which has a population of around three million people, is suffering even more from Yemen's electricity shortage. Taiz is supplied by only two electric stations: Juma'an Station, which yields 15 megawatts, and Usaifirah Station, which yields a mere ten megawatts. Ten additional megawatts of power for the city come from rented stations.
"Nowadays, there is neither electricity nor water here," said a carpenter in Taiz who owns a large workshop with a great number of workers. "We have experienced massive losses as a result of power outages. Electricity blackouts have become unbearable."
"The electricity here is off most of the time, both day and night," said Majed al-Jaberi from Saber district, Taiz governorate. "Power outages have caused us problems and damaged our household appliances."
Hot cities are excluded from blackouts while others suffer more
Due to the increased demand for power in hot areas or cities in which people need energy for air conditioning, these areas are excluded from electric blackouts. The electricity deficit is made up by doubling blackouts in other cooler cities.
"We have orders from the Minister of Electricity and Energy not to disconnect power to hot cities like Hodeida and Aden," said Al-Qubati. "But if there is danger to the network as a result of keeping these cities in power, we are forced to disconnect them because I and my colleagues [at the NEC] are responsible for any damage inflected on the network."
Providing enough power to these cities means there are other cities or areas suffering from even more blackouts. These governorates are Amran, Taiz, and areas surrounding major cities.
"The same thing happens in Sana'a. To reduce the number of blackouts in Sana'a, we disconnect outside areas of the city for a long time, like at Bani Husheish, Al-Rahaba, and Bani Matar," said the Head of the Emergency Section at Al-Qa'a Power Station.
Process of disconnecting power to cities
The NEC is in charge of distributing energy to all cities connected to the National Electric Network. Every governorate has local control over its electricity which is connected to the national control.
If there is an energy shortage at the national station, the national control distributes this shortage over various cities according to need. For example, engineers at the NEC call Sana'a control if there is a power shortage and demand from officials there to disconnect 50 megawatts. These engineers continue to do the same thing with other controls in other cities.
Each city is divided into areas and these areas are divided into streets and cells. The control has a list of these areas and streets with a timetable to distribute hours of blackouts across the whole city.
Sana'a itself is divided across four areas and every area has several streets with each street having its own separate cell. For example Northern Assiteen Street is known as Cell 640 on Sana'a's power grid. This cell is on the left side of the street, while cell 641 is on the right side.
The first area in Sana'a is the Old City of Sana'a together with Al-Hasaba and its surroundings. The second area is Addaeiry, Northern Assiteen, Shamlan, Mathbah and Jader. The third region is Khawlan Street, Taiz Street, and Al-Bulaili, and the forth region is Al Zubairi Street, Aser, Haddah, Assabieen, Bait Bows and Artel.
Types of powers stations in the country
Electric stations comprising the National Electric Network are of three different kinds: steam stations, diesel stations and rented stations. All the stations together generate a total of 700 megawatts which represents the output of the whole national network.
The three steam stations are Ras Katheeb Station in Hodeida with an output of 102 megawatts, Mocha Station in Taiz with an output of 137 megawatts, and Al-Huswah Station in Lahj with 97 megawatts.
There are 13 diesel stations distributed across the country with a total output of 200 megawatts. The third type of power station, or rented stations, are also diesel. These are not stations exactly but big generators that are capable of producing a sizable amount of energy. Agrreko Power Company owns most of these generators.
Agrreko operates in seven cities
Agrreko British Company began service in Hodeida four years ago according to an agreement between the company and the government. This agreement took place during the 15th anniversary of Yemen's Reunification which was held in Hodeida in 2005.
The company then expanded service to include other six cities. The company supplies Hodeida with 50 megawatts, Sana'a 19, Aden 42, Dhamar 25, Taiz 25, Amran 31, Ibb 40 and Hajjah with four megawatts.
Rented generators exhaust the electricity budget
According to electric engineers, rented generators are exhausting the budget of the General Corporation for Electricity. Agrreko's generators are working only 12 hours a day in calm cities and 24 hours in Aden and Hodeida. "According to an agreement between the company and the corporation, the company is paid while its generators are stopped in case there is no diesel," said an electric operator engineer.
He explained that the General Corporation is responsible for providing the diesel to Agrreko, which is why the company is exhausting the corporation's budget. The Ministry of Electricity is going to end its contract with the company when Mareb gas station comes online.
Deteriorating generators
The current electricity network in Yemen is extremely old and out of date. Sometimes there is an area that suffers from a power outage for more than five hours because there is a fault in the generator.
Last Monday, electricity was off in the Northern Assiteen area of Sana'a for almost five consecutive hours. When people asked electric engineers about the cause of the problem, they were told that there is a fault in the 601 cell generator. This area witnesses more blackouts than any other area in the city.
"Power stations in the country are deteriorating. When you repair a fault here, you find another somewhere else in the country," said one engineer. "Officials committed a mistake in the mid-1990s when they bought second hand power stations," added another.
Two weeks ago, Al-Huswah 60 megawatt generator was taken from service for maintenance. This affected the whole network and power outages have since doubled.
Lost energy
Lost energy is electricity used by people who do not have access to power. Most people living in new developments such as Assunainah, Shamlan, Jameat Al-Eamone quarter, Mathbah, and Al-Matar area do not have access to electricity. They steal it by using wires from nearby electric towers that they then connect to their houses.
Because most of these areas are considered unplanned areas and constructed almost overnight, they are denied access to electricity and are not allowed to install electric organizers given to those who have new houses by the General Corporation for Electricity.
"Although I built my house six years ago, I could not get an electric organizer until now," said Abdu Ali who has a new house in Assunainah area. "I get my electricity indirectly by linking a wire from the nearby electricity column to my house."
Engineers believe lost energy is one of the reasons behind electrical shortages.
Debts reach YR billions
A recent report issued by the General Corporation for Electricity in late 2008 indicated that the debts of energy consumers to the corporation reached YR 22.1 billion.
These debts are distributed between various consumers; small consumers owe roughly YR 12 billion, government bodies owe YR 8 billion and big consumers owe YR 1 billion.
The report indicated that the biggest debt was in the main city of Sana'a with YR 4.4 billion, followed by Aden at 4.1 billion, Hodeida 2.5 billion, Taiz 1.3 billion, Ibb 1.07 billion, Sana'a governorate 1.03 billion, and Lahj YR 1 billion.
Efforts to solve the electricity problem
The president and the government are not ignoring the electricity problem. They know what is happing and that people are suffering from repeated electricity blackouts.
Last October, while inaugurating the pipeline of a strategic gas project, President Saleh argued for the government to utilize its own rich resources of natural gas to build a power station using natural gas to generate electricity. He specifically pointed out the possibility of building power stations in Mareb, Balhaf and Dhamar.
Currently the work for constructing the first power station in Mareb, or Mareb one, is being finished and will be inaugurated by September. Engineers say the problem of blackouts will be brought to an end with the new station's operation.
Beside Mareb one there is Mareb two and Mareb three. All these stations will generate a total electric output of 1000 megawatts. According to government reports, efforts are also being exerted to build two power stations in Ma'aber, Dhamar governorate. Known as Ma'aber one and Ma'aber two, each of them has an output of 500 megawatts.
Mareb one was scheduled to enter service in early 2009, but due to problems between the government and the Iranian Parsian Energy Company, which was building transformer stations to receive electricity from Mareb, the opening of the station was delayed until September.
"There is pressure from the President on the Ministry of Energy and Electricity to operate Mareb one starting in Ramadan (next September)," said an electric engineer.
Mareb one is constructed by both the German Siemens Company and Iranian Parsian Power Company with a total cost of $ 270 million, according to reports.
The poorest network in the region
Yemen's electrical network is the poorest in the region. Engineers and specialists believe that the electricity problem dates back to the early 1990s. The government managed to buy a new station, but the corrupt official bought a secondhand one.
During that period, officials exaggerated that they will connect electricity to neighboring countries like Djibouti.
"Our entire electrical output in Yemen would not be able to lighten Mecca alone, let alone Saudi Arabia," said Al-Qubati. "Saudi meanwhile has a 1,000 megawatt electricity reserve."
By Mahmoud Assamiee
© Yemen Times 2009
