A common energy market for the GCC that is planned to be fully operational within five years will save member states tens of millions of dinars, according to an expert.

GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) board of directors chairman Dr Matar Neyadi said that an estimated $180 million (BD68 million) would be saved ever year in operational coasts alone once the market was fully functional, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

He was speaking to the GDN on the sidelines of the GCC Power 2014 conference, which opened yesterday at the Gulf Hotel's Gulf Convention Centre.

“The GCCIA is considered one of the leading strategic projects in the region,” he said.

“Its focus now is on increasing economic benefits to member states by establishing a GCC-wide electricity market that will allow them to make the best use of energy sources and conserving fossil fuels.

“We are hoping to launch a GCC market for power trading soon, and have appointed a team of experts to deal with this project during the next year.”

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Electricity and Water Affairs Dr Abdulhussain Mirza said that the nascent GCC-wide power grid was helping to cut down on the kind of blackouts that were once regular in Bahrain.

“We established the GCCIA, also known as the GCC power grid, in July 2009 and 1,100 incidents of electricity cuts have since been avoided across the six member nations, because of the availability of this network,” he said.

“The power disruptions were due to various reasons including large loss of bulk generation and the GCCIA has played its vital role in absorbing the impact of all these disturbances.

“The next stage is trading of power - if one of the GCC countries has surplus power, it can sell it to another country which is in need.

“This saves power going to waste and at the same time generates revenue.

“Sometimes one country might face a major shut down for maintenance or they might need power while planning to increase their capacity - in such instances the trading of power could be of great help.”

Dr Mirza said that eventually, the plan was for this trade network to be linked to the international energy market.

“The idea is to have this power market connected to the Arabian network and then eventually with the European, which could be a few years from now,” he said.

“Europe has surplus power capacity in the summer but needs it in winter for heating, while it is the reverse in the GCC where we don't need much during winter.

“There could be an exchange policy in place once the market is established and this trade will be beneficial to all the six GCC states and the total capacity of the bloc will be fully utilised.”

The three-day GCC Power conference and exhibition, organised by the GCC Regional Committee for Electric Systems and attended by more than 350 experts, will conclude tomorrow. - TradeArabia News Service