Nuclear power plants in the Middle East need to satisfy the growth in electricity demand that is projected at 25 per cent per annum between 2010 and 2015, said a report.

Although the increase will be primarily met with natural gas, the availability of such gas at its current, heavily subsidized prices is uncertain, according to the latest Deloitte periodical publication, ‘Middle East Point of View’ which hosts independent analysis and views from experts in an article titled ‘Heavy Fuel’.

“The nuclear momentum has started across the region,” said Kenneth McKellar, partner and Middle East Energy and Resources Industry leader at Deloitte in the Middle East.

“Of the 60 countries around the world that have expressed an interest in, or are actively planning to introduce nuclear power, almost every country in the Middle East is represented,” he added.

Gas will not continue to be as readily available as it is now for power generation. By 2015, there will be increasing pressure on those Middle Eastern countries, which have indigenous gas reserves, to benefit from international market prices by exporting their gas, rather than using it domestically at rates which are projected, at that time, to reach no more than half that international market price, the report said.

Oil cannot be economically used for base-load power generation except at times of peak demand when a high marginal price justifies it. There are no significant reserves of coal in the Middle East to be used for power generation, whilst hydro-electric and other forms of renewable power generation are currently too insignificant to assist meaningfully in meeting electricity demand, according to the report.

As a result, nuclear energy is the only source of power generation that can realistically fill the supply-demand gap, the report said. – TradeArabia News Service