Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) will serve as the Market Operator of the proposed wholesale electricity Spot Market due to go live by the end of 2020. As Market Operator, the state-owned entity — which has the mandate to procure all new power and water desalination capacity under the sector law — will also operate and administer the Spot Market. Additionally, as the Power Procurer under the new market rules underpinning the rollout of the Spot Market, OPWP will be the sole purchaser in the Spot Market, the state-owned entity — part of Nama Group (formerly The Electricity Holding Company) — said in an update on the ‘market design’ of the looming electricity wholesale market due to be established in the Sultanate.
“The aims of the Spot Market initiative include improving the efficiency and transparency of the operation of the electricity sector, providing opportunities for diverse generation sources that do not compete in OPWP’s normal Power /Water Purchase Agreement [P(W)PA] tender process, and providing an option for the continued participation of existing generation plants whose P(W)PAs have expired,” said the procurer in the latest update. “The Market Rules governing the Spot Market are being developed by OPWP under the supervision of the Authority for Electricity Regulation (AER) and in consultation with Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) and other stakeholders,” it stated.
New market roles have also been assigned to other sector stakeholders. The Load Dispatch Centre (LDC) of Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) will continue to be the power system operator and take responsibility for dispatching generators under the Grid Code. Likewise, the Authority for Electricity Regulation (AER), in addition to its current roles, will provide regulatory oversight of the Spot Market, including monitoring for rule breaches and abuse of market power.
The generators, for their part, will be required to submit daily offers, access market data such as schedules and prices and receive payment for electricity sold through the Spot Market. “Participation will generally be compulsory for generators above a certain size threshold, although generators with existing P(W)PAs will continue to be settled under their contract terms,” the procurer stated in its update.
The Spot Market is expected to start operational trials in early 2020 and go live by the end of 2020, it added.
Conrad Prabhu
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