Kuwait plans to call a tender next year for a solar energy plant, and aims for five percent of the total supply from renewable energy by 2020, an official told the State news agency on Wednesday.
"Solar energy in Kuwait is promising and various projects will benefit from it," Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) quoted the Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Electricity and Water, Meshaan AlـOtaibi, as saying.
AlـOtaibi did reveal the intended capacity of the plant.
"The State hopes to provide 5 percent of its energy requirement through such technology by the year 2020," he added.
Kuwait, an OPEC member, has one of the world''s highest per capita power consumption rates, and has said it plans to boost power capacity to around 16,000 megawatts from 10,000 MW by 2012.
Kuwait has set a special program to improve energy efficiency, taking measures and issuing regulations to reduce energy waste, which include setting criteria for an acceptable power efficiency of cooling systems that would be for import and local use.
The world''s fourthـlargest oil exporter is facing rising energy demand and has experienced power cuts, especially during the hot summer months when air conditioning use rises.
In February, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlـAhmad AlـSabah told daily newspaper AlـWatan that the country was considering developing nuclear power with the help of a French firm to meet demand for electricity and water desalination.
Kuwait, which has six power stations that also desalinate water, signed a 2.65 billion U.S. dollar deal last month with General Electric Co and Hyundai Heavy Industries to build and operate the 2,000 megawatts Subbiya power plant in the north of the country.
However, a longـrunning standoff between Parliament and the government of the Gulf Arab state has derailed energy expansion plans as major contracts have been scrapped or delayed.

Alwatan Daily