Renewable Energies in Kuwait: Current Status, Perspectives, Challenges and Opportunities
摘要
Similar to other regions of the world, it is necessary for the countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to develop renewable energies as clean and sustainable alternatives for the fossil fuels. Kuwait is one of the resource-rich countries located in the Middle East and renewable energies have not been well-developed till now; however, there are some plans to develop cleaner energy technologies, particularly renewable energy systems, in near future. In the present chapter, an overview of the country energy systems as well as CO2 emissions is provided. Furthermore, status and perspectives of renewable energies in the country is presented. Finally, challenges and opportunities related to the evolution of these systems in Kuwait are reflected and discussed. It can be pinpointed that there is considerable potential in Kuwait for development of solar energy. As well as solar, some other renewable energies can be considered to be used in Kuwait for power generation and other applications such as heating and cooling. Despite the benefits and opportunities of development of renewable energy for Kuwait in terms of environment and economy, there are some challenges such as, heavy subsidies for fossil fuels and inadequate social awareness about the benefits of renewable energies, for evolution of alternative energy systems.