Generating electricity with gas... saving Aden and the liberated areas from the "diesel" disaster
English - Saturday 05 August 2023 الساعة 09:00 am
Aden, NewsYemen, Ammar Ali Ahmed:
Despite the passage of a month and a half since the end of the crisis that erupted between the governor of the capital, Aden, and the government, due to the deterioration of the electricity service, with the Presidential Leadership Council's pledge to provide fuel, the service has not witnessed any significant improvement.
As the electricity service in the city is still working for only two hours, compared to 4 hours of shutdown, due to the government's inability so far to secure sufficient quantities of fuel oil and diesel for the generating stations, and the continued supply of emergency quantities from merchants.
The government's inability to secure fuel is due to the severe financial crisis it is suffering from as a result of the cessation of oil exports 10 months ago as a result of the Houthi militia attacks, which caused it to be deprived of its most important revenues and the most important resources of hard currency, which prompted Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. To provide financial support of $1.2 billion.
What is remarkable about the statements made by government officials after the Saudi subsidy was provided is the reference to its use in covering electricity fuel expenses, in light of the absence of any intention on the part of the Saudi side to renew the electricity fuel grant (selling diesel fuel and diesel fuel at the local market price), which it provided twice previously.
The government's tendency to use Saudi subsidies to cover electricity fuel expenses will represent a great waste of subsidies, given what the government says is that the bill for this fuel amounts to $100 million per month, which is a huge number resulting from its continued reliance on diesel, which is more expensive to generate electricity in the liberated areas.
In its statement issued during the crisis with the governor of Aden, the government admitted that the cost of generating electricity in the capital, Aden alone, amounts to $55 million per month, explaining that the daily expenditure for generating electricity for one day in its current situation in the capital for eight hours is approximately $1.8 million, and includes 1, $2 million, the value of oil derivatives, diesel and diesel, in addition to the crude oil allocated to operate the PetroMasila station in Aden, whose value is estimated at between 400-600 thousand dollars per day, according to global crude oil prices.
The legitimate governments’ resorting to relying on diesel or crude oil to generate electricity is surprising compared to the trend adopted by most countries of the world, led by the Gulf countries rich in oil reserves in recent years, to dispense with the use of oil and its derivatives in electricity generation, and replace it with cheaper and less natural gas. Pollution with the tendency to expand renewable energy projects such as wind and solar.
In this direction, the government took the first step in 2018 by establishing PetroMasila for a gas station in Wadi Hadramout with a capacity of 50 megawatts, in conjunction with its signing of a memorandum of understanding with the American General Electric Company to establish a power station in Aden with a capacity of 264 megawatts, and another in the coast of Hadramout with a capacity of 100 megawatts, both of which can be expanded. They are fueled by crude oil or gas.
Despite the completion of half of the project with the completion of the Aden station and the faltering of the Hadramout Coast station, the stumbling did not stop at that. The Aden station is still operating, since it started operating about two years ago, in part, only 90 megawatts out of 264 megawatts due to the failure to complete the energy drainage project.
The matter does not stop at this point, but the partial operation of the station in its current condition with crude oil fuel is a costly matter despite the free oil coming from the production fields in Shabwa, where the station currently consumes 2500 barrels of oil per day, and in the event of its full operation, the matter requires 10 thousand Barrels per day, which is a huge number that makes the generation bill for this station reach about 800 thousand dollars, according to the current global price.
This means that the government must work to operate the station with gas fuel, and establish the system for that, which is a project that Saudi Arabia had announced as part of the package of projects that it announced its submission to Aden in June of last year, and it seems that it did not receive follow-up from the government side to implement it on the ground. Despite its great economic importance in reducing the current cost of electricity production by more than 70%.
While the government complains that it bears a cost of up to 350 riyals for producing one kilowatt of diesel fuel, the matter does not exceed 100 riyals for using gas, assuming it was imported from abroad and was not produced by gas fields in the liberated governorates.
In addition to the advantages of the PetroMasila station and the fact that it adopts the “combined cycle” system, that is, the possibility of adding steam turbines that operate with steam resulting from burning gas, which means reducing the production cost between 70-80%, in case there is the government’s desire and will to solve the electricity crisis in the capital Aden as a step. First to solve it in the rest of the liberated province.
The next step - after the completion of the energy drainage project - is to work on the construction of the second phase of the station project to raise its power to 500 megawatts, and here it must be noted that the cost of the first phase of the PetroMasila station did not exceed $140 million, according to Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik.
This figure is less than the number mentioned by the government’s statement in response to the governor of Aden in the recent crisis, about the costs of purchasing diesel and diesel fuel for power stations since the end of the Saudi grant (only 3 months) and he said that it amounted to 150 million dollars, which reveals the extent of tampering and waste in scarce resources. .
Completion of the second phase of the PetroMasila station - which can be completed in less than a year - with the completion of the solar power station provided by the UAE in the coming months, which will raise the generation volume in Aden to 620 megawatts, which is a number close to the volume of loads for this summer, which means the end of the suffering of the people of Aden with electricity. And get rid of the disaster of diesel, which represented a black hole for resources during the past years.
