{"id":40398,"date":"2024-06-23T19:48:19","date_gmt":"2024-06-23T14:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/?p=40398"},"modified":"2024-06-23T19:48:19","modified_gmt":"2024-06-23T14:48:19","slug":"in-a-first-kuwait-announces-power-load-shedding-as-demand-spikes-in-summer-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/world\/in-a-first-kuwait-announces-power-load-shedding-as-demand-spikes-in-summer-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"In a first, Kuwait announces power load shedding amid heatwave"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>KUWAIT CITY (AFP): Multiple areas in Kuwait faced electricity load shedding on Wednesday as <a href=\"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/world\/hajj-2024-deadly-heatwave-in-saudi-arabia-kills-577-pilgrims\/\">scorching temperatures<\/a> pushed the electricity grid to its limits during peak hours.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement on Wednesday, Kuwait&#8217;s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said the scheduled cuts would occur for up to two hours a day, in the first such step for the <a href=\"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/world\/oil-drops-as-angola-announces-opec-exit\/\">OPEC member state<\/a> as climate change causes temperatures to rise.<\/p>\n<p>It blamed the cuts on &#8220;the inability of power plants to meet increased demand&#8221; during peak hours amid &#8220;a rise in temperatures compared to the same period in previous years.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, the ministry published a schedule of expected cuts across several parts of the country, after urging residents to ration consumption to ease the load on power plants.<\/p>\n<p>Kuwait, one of the largest crude producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is considered one of the world&#8217;s hottest desert countries. In recent years, climate change has made summer peaks hotter and longer.<\/p>\n<p>The extreme heat raises reliance on energy-guzzling air conditioners which are ubiquitous in Kuwait during the summer months. Temperatures neared 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday, according to Kuwait&#8217;s Meteorological Department.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What we are experiencing today is the result of climate change,&#8221; said Kuwaiti astronomer and scientist Adel Al-Saadoun, noting that temperatures are expected to climb above the 50-degree Celsius mark in the coming days.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Kuwait signed short-term contracts to buy 500 megawatts of electricity, including 300 MW from Oman and 200 MW from Qatar, during the summer months. The contracts would last from June 1 to August 31.<\/p>\n<p>Kamel Harami, a Kuwaiti energy expert, said that the Gulf state needed to revamp its energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KUWAIT CITY (AFP): Multiple areas in Kuwait faced electricity load shedding on Wednesday as scorching temperatures pushed the electricity grid to its limits during peak hours. In a statement on Wednesday, Kuwait&#8217;s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said the scheduled cuts would occur for up to two hours a day, in the first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":40399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}