Qatar promises no more power blackouts

The days of power blackouts in Qatar are over and the Gulf state will now look to export electricity to other GCC countries struggling to meet demand, energy chiefs have announced.

An extra 1,000 megawatts have been released into the transmission network of the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) by Mesaieed Power Company’s new plant in the Mesaieed Industrial City, signalling a new era in the Gulf state’s capacity.

“We will be providing the surplus to the country so it can comfortably export power to neighbouring countries through the GCC grid. There will be no power cuts in the country any more,” said Abdul Majeed Shihab Al Riyahi, vice-chairman and CEO of Mesaieed Power Company (MPC) in comments published by The Peninsula on Wednesday.

The new plant will achieve its full 2,700MW capacity by April next year, the CEO added.

The plant was inaugurated in August 2008 at a total cost of $2.3bn and Qatar’s power generation capacity is expected to reach 9,000MW by the year 2012, giving it spare capacity help other Gulf countries via the GCC grid.

Last week, up to 90 percent of Sharjah was temporarily without power for hours as businesses and residents suffered one of the worst blackouts yet.