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Electricity Generated VS. Consumed in Kuwait

Posted on 17. Jun, 2010 by Ali in kuwait

Since we are facing scheduled and regular power failures from now til September; i decided to look into the matter from a mathematical perspective. First; i did a Google search on the electricity produced and consumed in Kuwait and came up with the information below from the CIA world factbook. Kuwait is ranked 50th largest power consumer in the world where it uses 40,210,000,000  (kWh) a year as recorded in 2007 (source). Moreover, if you compare the figures from 2003 till 2010 you’ll see that we should be in a good position as stated in the CIA world factbook (Sources: Consumption, Source: Production). if you plot the figures together you’ll get the following;

We can obviously conclude that the information mentioned in the CIA world factbook is not necessarily reflecting reality. I then decided to take things more serious and do more than a Google search. I went to the Central Statistics Authority of Kuwait and asked for some numbers and figures. and they were kind enough to provide me with the annual statistical abstract of Kuwait for 2008 and i came up with this graph;

despite the fact that the figures are not identical between the two sources (CIA world factobook and the Central Statistics Authority) but both graphs show higher production volume that is consumed; which is a good thing. Now as you can see we are not supposed to have a problem but we do, you might ask WHY???

From now on it will by analysis and conclusions; please feel free to comment below for corrections and comments. Lets take the whole process step by step. The only reason why power generation and consumption increases is because of the increase in population. Our population (Citizens and Expats) has increased by 60% between 2005 and 2009 which is abnormal.

The increase in population is of course correlates with the demand for power and you can calculate then the amount of average electricity is consumed by a person for that country using the following equation;

Power = Consumption·1,000,000/(365.25·24)/population, where power is in watts and consumption is in MW·h/yr. (source)

but now we have a problem since we countries including Kuwait only do a national census every 5 years we would then know how much average power is consumed by individuals in Kuwait for 2005 which is 197o watts per person. This figure is different from the one mentioned in the Wikiperdia article (LINK) since they are using the population from the CIA factbook which is 2,687,000 but according to Kuwait Central Statistics Authority it is 2,193,651 also according to the CIA factbook Kuwait consumed a total of 36,280,000 (MW·h/yr) while it is 37,908,000 (MW·h/yr) according Kuwait Central Statistics Authority. Meaning we consumed more power for less population according to Kuwait Central Statistics Authority which is 1,970 watts per person and not 1,540. if we take the 1,971 watts per person figure; this means Kuwait is the highest power hungry nation in the world surpassing the United States by ALOT!!!

From now on please keep in mind that it is all assumptions since there are no figures for the number of population between the 5 year census years which leads me to using the 1,971 watts per person consumption rate. I will only use this figure from 2005 to 2009 to keep it real because i think the more we go back in the years; the less power we consume (personal assumption; there were no iPhones back then so we didn’t use much power). Another assumption is a 15% population increase per year which makes senses if you look at the official Kuwait Stats.

so if you take a look at the graph above; it shows how much power is in demand by taking the amount of power needed per person in Kuwait with the number of population which surpasses the amount generated in 2008. As you all may know that we have been taking about the electricity issue for more than 2 years and it is still not resolved. Anyhow; i guess that is pretty much it and please let me know if you have any comments. AND REMEMBER it is all a personal conclusion of the studied figures and numbers available to the general public.

P.S. i didn’t proof read the post so please don’t give me a hard time about it

Tags: Central Statistics Authority of Kuwait, CIA world factbook, electricity, Middle East, power, power consumption, power crisis, power generation