Saudi energy minister reveals Kingdom’s ambitious electricity plans

Arab News

October 12, 2017

Riyadh, Oct 12: Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih says that Saudi Arabia plans to supply electricity to Ethiopia through its privatization programs.

During his inauguration of the Saudi Electricity Forum at the Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh on Tuesday, Al-Falih explained that the Kingdom plans to supply electricity to Ethiopia through its grid in Egypt some time in the next three years. He added that, through its planned grid in Turkey, the Kingdom would also have the opportunity to supply power to European countries in the future.

Power grids in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been interconnected since 2011, Al-Falih pointed out. The Gulf Cooperation Council Countries Interconnection Grid (GCCIG) has a total capacity of 1,200 megawatts (MW) and links Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.

Saudi’s interconnection with Egypt will generate 3,000 megawatts in 2020, Al-Falih claimed.

He also confirmed that the Kingdom will use atomic energy to generate electricity for the first time in a bid to boost the national economy and to ensure a competitive energy sector.

Addressing the forum later, Maher bin Abdullah Al-Odan, CEO of the Atomic Energy Sector of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE), said work is already underway to identify suitable sites for two nuclear reactors in the Kingdom to generate between 2,500 and 3,000 MW.

The setting-up of the reactors falls within the framework of a memorandum of understanding between the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and KA-CARE. Al-Odan revealed that 40 Saudi engineers will be sent to Korea for relevant training.

In a further boost for Saudi Arabia’s energy sector, Italian technical consulting and engineering company CESI SpA and GCC Electrical Testing Laboratory (GCC Lab) signed a term sheet for the development and operation of a state-of-the-art electrical testing facility in the Kingdom.

GCC Lab CEO Saleh Al-Amri called the partnership a “significant step in the line with Saudi Vision 2030.”

He added that it would “contribute significantly toward … enhancing energy efficiency.”

Topics to be discussed at the three-day forum include Policies and Plans for the Electricity Sector; Investment Opportunities and Localization of Industries and Technologies; Electricity System Efficiency; Development of Electricity Market and Electricity Interconnection; Electricity Sector Privatization; and Atomic and Renewable Energy.

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Israel orders 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate eastern Rafah ahead of ground invasion

News Network

May 6,2024

The Israeli regime is forcibly evacuating Palestinians from the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amid the prospect of its widely-discouraged ground invasion.

“The estimate is around 100,000 people,” an Israeli military spokesman told journalists on Monday when asked how many people were being evacuated.

International organizations, including the United Nations, have repeatedly warned the regime against invading the city, citing its hosting around 1.5 million Palestinian refugees.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a ground assault on Rafah would “put the final nail in the coffin” for humanitarian aid operations in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also said, “Any ground operation would mean more suffering and death,” with an official saying “It could be a slaughter of civilians.”

Multiple aid agencies, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, have likewise warned against a Rafah offensive.

The NRC said such an invasion “would profoundly exacerbate the already catastrophic levels of need and the humanitarian emergency for millions of civilians with nowhere left to go.”

The official alleged Hamas had killed three Israeli forces on Sunday, attacking them from Rafah.

The evacuation order came a sat least 22 people lost their lives in the regime’s airstrikes killed in Rafah earlier on Monday.

Rafah’s evacuation “is part of our plans to dismantle Hamas,” the Israeli spokesman added, referring to the Palestinian resistance movement that has been defending Gaza in the face of the war.

The Palestinians have fled there from the ravages of a war that the regime began waging against Gaza on October 7, following a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

At least 34,683 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 78,018 others injured so far during the brutal military onslaught.

On Friday, Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on carrying out a ground invasion of Rafah was a key stumbling block in negotiations aimed at a truce agreement.

The Israeli premier has said the regime would go ahead with invading the city “with or without” a truce.

Hamas has, however, asserted that the regime has failed to defeat the resistance during the war.

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