KUWAI: The eighth meeting of the renewable energy sources uses development committee was held yesterday at the ministry of electricity and water. The meeting was chaired by Minister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Essam Al-Marzouq in the presence of officials from concerned ministries and departments. It took place as a response to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah's instructions to diversify sources of energy by utilizing renewable energy to produce 15 percent of the total energy used by 2030.

The meeting reviewed the challenges faced by state departments in using renewable energy applications, pending referral to the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council of Planning and Development so that it could provide the support needed to facilitate the process. During the meeting, chairman of the technical committee Salah Al-Modhei held a video presentation, briefing on renewable energy projects in various areas of the country.

Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) representative Ahmed Al-Jeemaz said that the company is in the process of building Al-Debdebah Solar Power Plant that is expected to cover 15 percent of the oil sector's needs of electricity by 2020. Also speaking at the meeting, KNPC's Suad Al-Radhwan said the project would produce one gigawatt of power, at an estimated cost of $1 million. She added that the plant would reduce the amount of fuel annually used in generating electricity by 5.2 million barrels, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.29 million tons annually.

Court cases

The administrative court yesterday rejected a case filed to cancel a Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) decision approving a proposal to offer Dasma and Bneid Al-Gar Co-op Society's markets for investment, said MSAL's assistant undersecretary for legal affairs Abdul Aziz Shuaib. Shuaib added that this verdict proves that all the legal measures taken by MSAL are sound and are only made to benefit the co-op and its shareholders, especially after it had been suffering considerable losses and failed to pay its dues.

Separately, the court of cassation yesterday adjourned hearing a case filed to contest the government's decision to withdraw Ahmed Al-Jabr's citizenship till another hearing on April 3. Meanwhile, the court of appeal yesterday sentenced Rania Al-Saad and Saleh Al-Saeed to three years with labor on state security charges for slandering Saudi Arabia on their Twitter accounts. In another case, the criminal court yesterday sentenced a Kuwaiti, an IS-affiliated hacker and member of the 'Caliphate Electronic Army' to 10 years with labor. The court also ordered confiscating all the videos he possessed on being arrested.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi