01
About the Utility
The Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy is the Kuwaiti government ministry for the three services in its title; older records from partner institutions still use its former name, the Ministry of Electricity and Water. Its planning reaches into national energy policy: the International Energy Agency records that Kuwait’s renewable energy target was framed against a tripling of national energy demand by 2030, as projected by the ministry. With the Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP), the ministry procured the combined Az-Zour North and Alkhairan independent water and power projects as a public-private partnership, opening the financial offers of competing transaction advisers in a joint public session.
02
Water System
Kuwait’s water supply sits within a regional model the World Bank describes as supply-driven and carbon- and energy-intensive, in which almost all freshwater in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries comes from seawater desalination or deep-aquifer pumping. The Az-Zour North 1 independent water and power plant shows how closely water is tied to power in that model: it pairs a gas-fired combined-cycle plant with multiple-effect desalination, with production capacities of 1,550 MW and 107 MIGD. On the demand side, the World Bank links low tariffs to the world’s highest per-capita water consumption across the GCC, and finds that water and energy subsidies deepen each sector’s dependence on oil revenues.
03
Infrastructure & Performance
The supported picture of the asset base centres on Az-Zour, where water and power plants are grouped together. New Az-Zour North Phase 2 & 3 capacity sits on the same site as Az-Zour North 1 and beside the Az-Zour South complex, so this expansion adds to an existing cluster. At Az-Zour North 1, desalination is paired with gas-fired combined-cycle generation, which ties water output to the fuel and performance of the power plant. In a supply model the World Bank characterises as carbon- and energy-intensive, and increasingly expensive under climate stress, efficiency in power production bears directly on the cost of drinking water.
04
Investment & Priorities
New capacity is being brought forward through public-private partnerships. Alongside the Az-Zour North and Alkhairan water and power projects, KAPP has tendered Al-Dibdibah Power Generation and Al-Shagaya Renewable Energy Phase 3, a minimum of 4,500 MW of photovoltaic and concentrated solar power divided into four investment zones. The Zone 1 tender was announced in June 2025, and bid submission for the 500 MW Zone 2 was extended into 2026. These are procurement milestones, not construction progress or capacity in service.
05
Sustainability & Resilience
Kuwait’s renewable energy goal, set in 2012 and still in force according to the International Energy Agency, is for renewables to supply 15 percent of nationwide electricity generation by 2030. KAPP presents the Al-Shagaya programme as aligned with that target, linking the solar procurement directly to national policy. For GCC countries, the World Bank recommends subsidy and tariff reform, renewable-powered desalination, treated-wastewater reuse and coordinated water-energy governance; these are recommendations, not adopted ministry plans.
06
Key Challenges
- Raising renewable generation toward Kuwait’s 15 percent target for 2030.
- Securing new desalination capacity through the Az-Zour North and Alkhairan partnership projects.
- Containing the energy and carbon intensity of water produced alongside gas-fired power.
- Managing per-capita water demand that the World Bank links to low tariffs across the GCC.
