Jarrah Says 20hr Power Feed in Early 2020, Ships Not Ruled Out

Citizens will enjoy at least 20-hour per day power supply in early 2020, a minister said Wednesday after a meeting for a ministerial panel tasked with studying an electricity plan to resolve the country's chronic crisis.

“Near-complete consensus has been reached on the energy minister's plan and on the places where the temporary and permanent plants will be built as well as the generation capacity of each site,” Information Minister Jamal al-Jarrah said.

Told that the energy minister has announced that the option of renting power ships is still on the table, contrary to his announcement Tuesday that it had been dropped, Jarrah said: “If a bidder says that they could provide us with the temporary part via a ship, pending the completion of the permanent solution and with a cost less than that proposed by another bidder who intends to build an on-land plant, we will certainly discuss such an option in the committee.”

Asked when the committee expects the 20-hour threshold to be reached, the minister said: “If we approve the plan this week, we will need three to four months to approve contacts and finalize the temporary plants. This means that we would provide the 1,450 megawatts in the first months of 2020.”

The committee will hold another meeting after Thursday's cabinet session.