Saudi Electricity says Aug peak power load hit record high

Saudi Electricity Co’s (SEC)’s peak electricity load hit its highest level ever in August driven by local demand for power during the hot summer, the Gulf’s largest utility said on Sunday.

SEC’s peak load rose by 10.2 per cent to 62,260 megawatts (MW) from 56,547 MW a year earlier, SEC said in a statement.

The state-run company this summer commissioned 4,516 MW of additional power generation capacity by building 22 new power transfer units and facilities, SEC chief executive Ziyad al-Shiha was cited as saying in the statement.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, burns a significant amount of its crude oil for power generation.

Rising domestic power consumption threatens to reduce the amount of crude available for export.

Crude oil used to generate power surged to 894,000 barrels per day in June.

To meet the kingdom’s power demand, which is growing at 6 to 8 per cent annually, SEC currently spends SAR 40bn to SAR 60bn ($10.7bn to $16bn) a year.