Electricity

The discovery of oil in Kuwait still considered as the main source for national wealth and this has given a rise to a new cultural prosperity in the country in all aspects of modern live such as economic, social, constructional and educational and as a response the electricity services played a vital role in building blocks for this evolving by which it covered the demands of this cultural transition in the country and it developed capacities in these vital facilities for better situation , as clearly noted in the advanced production of electrical energy.

First Beginnings

Kuwait did not have electrical power until 1913 through an Indian/British engineer by the name of N.S. Bhayankar, where an agreement was held between Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah on 13/10/1913 to introduce and supply electricity to Seef Palace with a cost of 7,000 Rupees to operate 400 bulbs and it included a machine that operated on kerosene fuel . In 1934 the country witnessed the real birth of electricity services through launching first small electrical plant for direct electrical current (DC) , it was constructed by (Al-Ahlia Electricity Company) and the production started in this plant with only two generators, each with a capacity of 30 kW and the direct current (DC) was (200) V.

In spite of this small start, which was a good one when looking at Kuwait population back in the day, unfortunately this step faced a setback due to War World II and with the end of it , the company decided to stop the direct current (AC) and gradually shifted to a three phase alternating current (AC) with (220/380) voltage and (50) Hz frequency , then the company launched an electricity generating plant in Mirqab area that included two generators, each with a capacity of (200) kW, and it started operating in the early 1949.

Thereafter, a third generator was added with a capacity of (200) kW and by 1950 the company had completely stopped using the direct current (DC). The company (Al-Ahlia Electricity Company) obtained a used generator with a capacity of (500) kW from Kuwait Oil Company (KOC ) for further suppling to cover the increase in demand for electricity, and it started operating in 1951, where the constructed generating capacity reached to (1100) MW (1.1E MW).