Powering The Arab World: A New Era Of Choice?

Powering The Arab World: A New Era Of Choice?

- Joseph Anis

The ability of power operators to ‘flex’ has enabled the world’s first steady electrical current invented in the 1800s to evolve into a global market that the International Energy Agency (IEA) said garnered $718bn in investment last year.

For the first time, the worldwide spend on the electricity sector exceeded the combined spending on oil, gas and coal supply. This rise in investments is translating into an increasingly sophisticated and diverse menu of power generation options for those in the Arab world and beyond, from traditional coal-powered plants, to thermal, nuclear and renewable projects.

Saudi Arabia’s Apicorp estimates that the power sector accounts for the largest share at just under a third – approximately $207bn – of the $622bn worth of planned energy investments over a five-year period across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Such investments will be key to satisfying the 8 per cent annual increase in power demand anticipated across the region in the medium-term.

But the market is still a long way from guaranteeing light with the flick of a switch in all the 22 nations of the Arab world. Two camps have emerged in the region’s power equation. In Gulf countries, blackouts are rare thanks to petrodollars that have built robust and comprehensive infrastructure. Still, more capacity is required to support the region’s rapidly growing industrialisation and increasingly prominent role in global trade markets. For example, an additional 25 million visitors are expected to flock to Dubai for Expo 2020 – around nine times the emirate’s current population.