Today's Edition
ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)
Rystad Energy forecasts the Middle East’s installed power-generation capacity will quadruple from 580 gigawatts (GW) in 2025 to 2,328 GW by 2050 as electricity demand rises and renewable energy assumes a larger role in the region’s power system.
Power demand across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is forecast to more than double from 1,671 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025 to 3,670 TWh by 2050, according to an outlook presented by the energy research company.
“The Middle East is entering a period of significant expansion in its power system,” said Carlos Torres Diaz, Head of Power at Rystad Energy.
He was speaking at an energy outlook briefing held ahead of the Middle East Energy exhibition, scheduled to take place from September 1 to 3 at Dubai World Trade Centre.
Industrial and residential users will remain major consumers of power, while data centres, hydrogen production, transport and commercial and public services will add new sources of demand, the outlook said.
In the UAE, electricity is forecast to meet 42% of the UAE’s total end-user energy needs by 2050, up from 17% in 2025, as transport, industry and other activities become increasingly electrified.
Rystad expects solar and wind power to account for an increasing proportion of the additional generation capacity across the region. In the UAE, solar power’s share of electricity generation is forecast to rise from 11% currently to 50% by 2050.
Regional solar manufacturing capacity is expected to increase sevenfold by 2030, while the deployment of battery-storage systems will need to accelerate to support the growing contribution of intermittent renewable energy sources.
“There’s a very big push towards renewable energy. At the same time, nuclear remains a viable source of supply, while gas also remains in the mix,” Diaz said.
Rystad expects gas to continue playing a role alongside the expansion of renewable energy and storage as the region seeks to balance reliability, affordability, sustainability and energy security.
Diaz said the Middle East and Africa were expected to become the world’s third-largest energy-consuming region after Asia-Pacific and North America.
“As the Middle East region diversifies beyond oil and gas, power demand is set to double by 2050, with forecasts reaching 3,670 TWh, with data centres, commercial activity and public services contributing to this demand,” he said.
Aditya Saraswat, Head of Upstream Research for MENA and the Caspian at Rystad Energy, said the UAE was expanding both conventional and alternative energy supplies to support an orderly transition.
“Especially in the UAE, it has been critical to highlight that the country has been playing both sides of the energy balance. It is ramping up supply alternatives, both conventional and alternative, to make sure that we move into an orderly energy transition,” Saraswat said.
The UAE was also seeking to ensure that its domestic energy system remained flexible enough to serve different sources of demand, he added.
Mark Ring, Group Director of Middle East Energy, said rising electricity demand was increasing the importance of bringing together participants from across power generation, transmission and distribution, storage and energy efficiency.
The exhibition is expected to bring together more than 35,000 energy professionals from nearly 120 countries.
Its conference programme will feature more than 210 speakers across five stages, covering areas including AI and digitalisation, electricity demand, energy efficiency, grid infrastructure, storage, renewable energy and investment.
