State-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has approved plans to generate up to 2 gigawatts (GW) of solar power to support its decarbonisation and cost reduction plans, local press reports said on Wednesday.

KPC consumes around 1.7 GW out of the 17 GW produced by the Ministry of Electricity and Water, Al-Seyassah daily said, citing KPC sources.

“KPC will enlist the help of international and local companies specialising in this field to achieve this project… it will continue coordinating with the government to obtain the legal framework that will allow it to replace its electricity supplies from the Ministry with solar power,” the report said.

It quoted the sources as saying that the plan aims to reduce the cost of purchasing conventional electricity, especially since KPC currently pays 25 fils per kilowatt-hour to the Ministry. Switching to solar power will cost KPC only 7-8 fils, it added.

(Writing by N Saeed; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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