Impacts of Kuwait’s proposed renewable energy goals on grid operations

Abstract

Kuwait’s policy of achieving 15% renewable energy by 2030, announced in 2012, has been diverted from its original intent. Today, Kuwait’s renewable energy goal is to meet 15% of its projected peak load by 2030. To examine the actual outcomes, a comparison is offered between the original policy: annual energy share, the current policy: peak capacity share, and two other policies: installed capacity share and peak load share. The results demonstrate how these policies lead to drastically different outcomes. The total installed renewable energy capacity ranges from 4 GW to 27 GW; the total produced energy from renewables ranges from 8 TWh to 44 TWh; and the flexibility requirements ranges from 1.6 GW to 20 GW per hour.

Keywords

• renewable energy
• renewable energy goals
• energy policy
• power system
• solar energy
• wind energy