One Of The World’s Top Oil Producers Is Out Of Electricity
The US is concerned it may run low on electricity due to the increasing demand for AI data centers. The US is the largest exporter of oil. However, oil is barely used to produce electricity. The situation is particularly dire in one of the world’s largest oil-producing countries. Kuwait often experiences such low electricity levels that it must occasionally shut off power to homes and businesses.Â
A new study by Reuters reveals a rapid increase in electricity demand due to population growth and rising temperatures. Converting electricity-generating facilities to oil is almost impossible and would be extremely costly, requiring years to complete.
The local Al-Zour North power plant generates a significant portion of the nation’s electricity needs, and it plans to expand its facilities in two phases. To do so, it will partner with Saudi Arabia.Â
A Need For Renewables
Rystad believes that the solution to the problem is renewables. They can be built from the ground up and do not require changes to current facilities. The challenge is that enough of this energy will not be online until 2035 or later. For a nation with 120-degree F temperatures, that is too long to wait.
In the short term, the only available solution is natural gas. By most measures, it is not as dirty a fuel as oil. Nevertheless, it causes much more greenhouse gas than renewables do
One positive note for Kuwait is that the natural gas is plentiful and fairly inexpensive. However, it needs to be transported from another part of the world, in part. And there is no guarantee that it will be cheap in 2036
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