In 2025, Kuwait’s electricity consumption was supplied entirely by fossil fuels, with gas accounting for about 58% and other fossil sources making up the remaining 42%. Low-carbon electricity contributed none of the reported supply. This dependence on fossil electricity highlights a major opportunity to develop clean generation and reduce the climate impacts and air pollution associated with fossil fuels.

Is Electricity Growing in Kuwait?

Kuwait’s latest figures do not show growth relative to its historical per-person records. Electricity consumption reached about 16,600 kWh per person in 2025, around 3,500 kWh—or 18%—below the record of roughly 20,100 kWh set in 2006. Low-carbon generation stood at zero kWh per person, compared with its previous record of 414 kWh in 2022. These shortfalls are concerning as electrification and expanding digital infrastructure increase the need for abundant clean electricity. However, comparisons with historical peaks alone do not establish the latest year-on-year trend or whether total national electricity consumption is growing.

Suggestions

Kuwait can increase low-carbon electricity generation by pursuing both solar and nuclear power. The nearby United Arab Emirates provides a particularly relevant example: nuclear supplies about 20% of its electricity, demonstrating the technology’s contribution in a Gulf setting. France, where nuclear provides roughly two-thirds of electricity, offers lessons in building a substantial clean electricity backbone. For solar, Kuwait can look to sunny regions such as the US states of Nevada and Arizona, where solar supplies about 35% and 19% of electricity, respectively, as well as Jordan, at 15%. Developing large solar projects and rooftop installations alongside a nuclear programme would help Kuwait expand electricity supply while replacing fossil generation.

History

The supplied historical data show little recorded progress in Kuwait’s low-carbon electricity generation throughout most of the 2010s: wind recorded no annual increases from 2013 through 2020, and solar recorded none from 2014 through 2020. Growth finally appeared in 2021, when solar generation increased by 0.1 TWh, followed by a much larger wind increase of 1.7 TWh in 2022. Solar showed no additional increase in either 2022 or 2023. These isolated gains were encouraging, but the long stretches without growth underline the need for a sustained clean-electricity expansion. The historical change series ends in 2023 and does not explain the reported zero low-carbon generation in 2025.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade