GCC countries' energy trade seen growing at annual 20%

The chief executive officer of GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) Engineer Ahmed al-Ibrahim stated that the trade exchange of energy through the Gulf electrical interconnection network is promising and is growing at a rate of 15%-20% annually.
It has achieved economic savings for the GCC countries that exceeded $3bn since the full operation of the Gulf Electricity Interconnection Project in 2009 until now, said.
In an exclusive statement on the sidelines of the authority's participation in the 7th General Conference of the Arab Union of Electricity, al-Ibrahim told Qatar News Agency that savings amounted to $192mn last year, up from $182mn in 2020.
He added that these savings came as a result of reducing operating and maintenance expenses, costs in terms of energy management and carbon emissions, and the costs of establishing fibre-optic networks.
He explained that the mutual energy to support and stabilise the Gulf electricity market has grown steadily over the past 11 years, while the growth of electric energy trade between the Gulf countries has increased since 2016 through initiatives adopted by the authority to develop the Gulf energy market, which allowed greater economic savings for the GCC countries, exceeding the capital and operational costs of the linkage project.
He affirmed that the authority is currently working on adding platforms that will provide energy offers and learn more about the available opportunities to increase the volume of benefit from this interconnection and expand it internally and externally through the energy markets of neighbouring countries. One of the advantages of this connection is the exploitation of optical fibres in communications, which provided the Gulf telecommunications companies with infrastructure in this field, he added.
He stressed that the coming years will witness a big breakthrough in energy trade, based on the studies and negotiations that are currently taking place, noting that this trade is not concentrated only in the summer period, but during the months outside this period, which indicates that it provides permanent opportunities.
He said that the Gulf electrical interconnection, which began as a strategic project aimed at energy security and supporting the GCC networks in emergency situations, has succeeded in achieving its most important strategic objectives of enhancing energy security, raising the level of reliability and safety for Gulf electrical systems, and avoiding electrical interruptions in all major support cases, which exceeded 2,400 cases since 2009; the start of the interconnection.
He emphasised the increase in the percentage of renewable energy in the Gulf energy mix, as most of the GCC countries have adopted ambitious goals in this direction over the next ten years, pointing out the importance of integrating renewable energy with electrical systems to ensure that this integration does not negatively affect these systems.
Al-Ibrahim said that energy storage has become one of the vital issues of concern to the GCC countries and the rest of the world as a result of the great development in the power sector, explaining that the GCC countries tend to use the latest energy storage systems.
He stressed that the transformation of energy to integrate renewable energy with electricity systems requires the use of many technologies in operating patterns and energy uses, and among the most important of these technologies is energy storage, which has recently been needed to ensure the reliability of these systems.
Al-Ibrahim pointed out that the authority is working to contribute to creating an electricity market and promoting the exchange of electric energy, in light of the high rates of growth in demand for energy, indicating that the electrical interconnection between the GCC countries and Iraq, whose framework agreement was signed in 2019, is now in the stage of awarding bids.
On Thursday, an agreement to finance the supply of Iraq with 500 megawatts will be signed with the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), he noted, adding that the project is expected to be ready for implementation within the next two months.