Qatar’s power capacity is expected to reach 13,000MW by 2018 and will cater to the country’s ever growing development needs, said Fahad al-Mohannadi, managing director and general manager of Qatar Electricity and Water Company.
The existing capacity is around 8,800MW, al-Mohannadi, also the chairman of Umm Al Houl Power Company told Gulf Times on Sunday night.
“Our future projects will take us to 13,000MW, which is part of our readiness for the development of 2022 (FIFA World Cup)”, he said on the sidelines of an event held to mark the arrival of Siemens’ 1000th gas turbine to the Umm Al Houl Combined Power Plant.
He said the peak electricity demand in Qatar was currently around 8,200MW.
Asked whether more utility projects would be added beyond 2018, al-Mohannadi said, “There has been a steady increase in the demand for electricity and water in our country. This is obviously due to Qatar’s development and population growth.
“Some of our existing projects are old. A case in point is the Ras Abu Fontas A plant. It is now 43 years old. Some of our new projects will replace the existing ones and others will be new developments.”
He said there would be another utility project in Qatar between 2018 and 2022. “The location is roughly known. But I cannot disclose it now. It depends on how the grid moves. There is more than one option. It has to be done on techno-economical basis,” al-Mohannadi said.
Earlier, speaking at the event to celebrate the arrival of Siemens’ 1000th gas turbine to the Umm Al Houl Combined Power Plant at the Four Seasons, al-Mohannadi said, “As our country makes big strides towards industrialisaton and developing its infrastructure, this power plant will be integral to boosting its future electricity supply. We are delighted to work with dependable partners such as Siemens and Samsung to execute our long-term plans for expanding Qatar’s power sector.”
Dubbed as one of the largest power and water projects in the region, the Umm Al Houl Combined Power Plant will have a production capacity of 2,520 megawatts of electricity and 136mn gallons of drinking water per day.
The integrated power and water project will help meet the rising power and water demand and will cover the upcoming economic zones.
Umm Al Houl is expected to be completed in two phases. The first phase will be completed by 2017, with a production of 40mn gallons of water a day. The project will reach full capacity by mid-2018.
Umm Al Houl Power Company CEO Jamal al-Khalaf told Gulf Times that once completed, the Umm Al Houl project would increase the country's current electricity output by 23% and water output by 26%.