ups between the west and the south of the Kingdom, and between the regions of Qassim and Madina, will be operational within three weeks, the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has said. Ali Al-Barrak, SEC Executive President, said the moves would be followed with a link-up of the central area and the Eastern Province to the Western Region, making the complete electrical link-up of the Kingdom's regions 95 percent complete. “The south to west link-up will increase power in the Western Region by 400 megawatts,” Al-Barrak said. The SEC has come in for criticism following power cuts across the Kingdom due to a rise in demand for electricity in the high temperatures, and Al-Barrak reiterated that a 12 percent increase in demand had been witnessed in the central region. He also noted that several works would soon be finished, such as the expansion of power plants in Al-Qurrayat and Al-Kharj 10 to increase output by 1,200 megawatts and 600 megawatts respectively. The SEC chief also said that NASA forecasts for solar activity in 2013 that could provoke power cuts was being taken seriously. “We have been consulting both in the Kingdom and abroad to take the necessary measures, but we are still not absolutely sure of the warnings,” he said. He added, however, that “sudden temperature increases would force the company change its plans for the next few years”.
