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The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development signed a second loan agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority worth 35 million Kuwaiti Dinars (equivalent to 112 million US Dollars) to contribute to financing the project to enhance the Gulf Electrical Interconnection System and connect it to the southern Iraq network.
The signing ceremony took place at the Fund’s headquarters in the presence of His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kuwait Fund, Mr. Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, His Excellency Mr. Jasem Mohamed Al-Budaiwi, the CEO of the Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority, His Excellency Engineer Ahmed bin Ali Al-Ibrahim, and a number of high-profile attendees. The agreement was signed on behalf of the fund by Minister Al-Yahya, while Engineer Al-Ibrahim signed on behalf of the authority.
Project Features
The project involves the construction of a new interconnection station within the Gulf Interconnection System in the Al-Wafra area of Kuwait, covering an area of approximately 62,000 square meters. It also includes the extension of double-circuit overhead transmission lines of 400 kilovolts over approximately 255 kilometers to connect the new station to the Al-Fadhili conversion station in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the extension of double-circuit overhead transmission lines of 400 kilovolts over approximately 295 kilometers from Al-Wafra station to the Al-Faw station in southern Iraq. Additionally, the project includes the supply and installation of circuit breakers, reactors, and measurement and control systems for the establishment and expansion of conversion stations in Al-Wafra, Al-Fadhili, and Al-Faw, and the addition of electrical installations to enhance the network connected to Al-Wafra station in Kuwait to enable it to accommodate an electrical capacity of about 3000 megawatts, and to enhance the network in southern Iraq connected to Al-Faw station to enable it to accommodate an electrical capacity of no less than 500 megawatts.
Continuing Joint Efforts
On this occasion, Al-Budaiwi confirmed that the signing of the second loan agreement with the Kuwait Fund indicates the continuation of joint Gulf work on all levels, including cooperation and coordination in the field of electrical interconnection and the various efforts exerted by all Gulf Cooperation Council states to continue the process of Gulf integration. He praised the role of the Fund in enhancing development efforts on both the regional and international levels, confirming that it has become a great means of communications with the international community and assisting it in the darkest times, and is one of the tools that Kuwait is honoured to present to the Arab and international world.
Fruitful Cooperation
For his part, Al-Ibrahim said that “the agreements to finance projects to enhance the electrical interconnection system and connect southern Iraq mark the beginning of cooperation between the Fund and the Authority in the phase of expanding the electrical interconnection network that the authority is currently witnessing, where there are three major projects to enhance the connection with Kuwait, the UAE, and Oman, in addition to the southern Iraq connection project, with a total cost exceeding 1 billion US dollars.” He explained that the Authority is heading towards enhancing the economic benefit of the electrical interconnection by using additional transmission capacities to activate the common Gulf electricity market for the exchange and trade of electricity between Gulf countries and beyond, which provides economic opportunities exceeding 20 billion dollars over the next 15 years.
Al-Ibrahim pointed out that it is expected to complete the integration of the Al-Wafra station into service by the end of this year 2024, where the project implementation rate has so far reached about 80%, and the project is expected to be fully implemented in 2026.
Significant Progress
In interviews with the “Fund” magazine, project supervising engineer Emad El-Din Rizkallah confirmed that the implementation of the Al-Wafra electrical station project is proceeding as planned, with a completion rate reaching about 80% so far, as the main equipment at the station has been installed. He explained that the station will help eliminate the problem of power outages, especially during the summer season when temperatures rise.
Training National Cadres
Engineer Trainee Othman Al-Amhuj, part of the program for training and qualifying newly graduated Kuwaiti engineers and architects organized by the Kuwait Fund, said that his work as a trainee engineer at the station involves assisting management and engineers in following up on daily tasks. He noted that he is currently in the third phase of the training program, which lasts for three months. He added that practical training in the station project helped him learn new skills and gain experience through interaction with international companies executing the project, explaining that the work inside the project is divided into two parts: field supervision to follow up on the work of the executing entity, and office work where files are arranged in the system to facilitate information access for field engineers.
Companies and Various Expertise
Engineer Trainee Abdul Mohsen Shaaban said that the training period at the station was extremely fruitful, as he benefited greatly as a specialist electrical engineer, learning different skills, including installing and cleaning electrical equipment, organizing and arranging inspection files used at the station to be ready when requested, and visiting the site daily to see various work methods, whether in the civil or electrical work aspect. He explained that during the second phase of his training program, he learned civil engineering skills, and during the third phase, he learned electrical engineering skills, noting that the project is being implemented by several companies with expertise and competencies from different nationalities, which helped the trainees acquire many skills.
It is noteworthy that Kuwait holds 26.7% of the founding shares of the Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority, making it the second-largest shareholder. The network is a joint-stock company registered by the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council to interconnect the electricity networks of the member states, ensure energy supply to member states’ networks, and invest and achieve economic benefits in the areas of energy exchange and diversification of its sources. The aim of trading electrical power between the Gulf countries is to sustain development, raise the reliability level of electricity supply, and achieve savings in electricity production costs by providing sustainable and competitively priced electrical power, as well as reducing the costs of producing electrical energy and building stations.