November 10, 2024

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Dr. Saleh Al-Kharabsheh, stressed the importance of proceeding with the General Electricity Law for the year 2024 as a permanent law instead of the temporary General Electricity Law No. 64 of 2002 and its amendments.

Al-Kharabsheh added, in a press statement today, Sunday, that the most important positives came with the General Electricity Law for the year 2024, which serve the interest of improving the efficiency of the electrical system and the continuity of its work.

Al-Kharabsheh detailed the benefits of the draft law that set it apart from previous temporary laws, such as allowing the licensee to transmit, generate, or distribute electricity, as well as establish, manage, and operate electrical energy storage stations in accordance with instructions issued by the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission following the project's implementation.

Al-Kharabsheh added that the project was not limited to this but rather allows anyone to establish, own, and operate electricity storage stations for private consumption purposes in a way that achieves the security and sustainability of the electricity grid.

He stressed that the new project enables and encourages investment in green hydrogen projects by allowing self-generation of electricity and independent self-transmission of electricity not connected to the transmission grid.

Al-Kharabsheh pointed out that the Electricity Law Draft for the year 2024 allows the possibility of establishing an independent electricity transmission system to transmit electricity generated from an independent self-generation station for the purpose of covering private consumption and also allows the owner of an independent self-generation station to establish an independent transmission system to transmit electricity generated from the station for the purpose of consuming it, provided that the establishment and operation procedures are determined in accordance with a system issued for this purpose.

Regarding the issue of electricity distribution companies and the work to reduce electricity losses, Al-Kharabsheh explained that the new draft law allows distribution companies to operate at a voltage higher than the current permitted voltage, in addition to allowing them to establish power generation stations for the purpose of supplying them in the Kingdom’s regions, in an effort to maintain the continuity of the distribution system, according to instructions that will be issued by the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission later.