Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Power, water sector investments total RO 3.85 bn

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Nama Group (NG) organised a virtual roundtable discussion with economists focusing on its integrated strategy to increase efficiency and ensure the provision of safe and sustainable electricity to all customers across the Sultanate in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.


Eng Omar Khalfan al Wahaibi (pictured), Nama Group CEO, presented Nama Group’s major achievements and operational and financial performance in 2019. Nama Group continued to invest in the expansion and development of the transmission and distributions’ networks in 2019 and total Capital Expenditure reached to RO 285 million. Total assets also increased by 56.3 per cent and reached to RO 6.9 billion in 2019. The increase in the total assets is primarily driven by increase in Right of Use of assets in Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP).

On the transmission and distribution network, Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) catered to a peak load of 6540 MW in the Main Interconnected System and 594 MW in Dhofar network in 2019. A total of 35,451,889 MWh energy was delivered to the customers. The transmission losses in the year was 1.53 per cent. With achieving 99.9991 per cent in transmission network reliability in 2019, interruption of supply to customers was very less and the average interruption to customers was 4.7 minutes in the year.


The Interconnection Project between the Main Interconnected System (MIS), and the Dhofar Power System (DPS) will improve the efficiency and integration of Oman’s main systems, in addition to PDO network. The project will improve the dispatch economy by utilizing diverse sources of generation (such as renewables and efficient plants). The project is divided into two phases; Phase 1 until Duqm and Mahout: will include new 400kV grid stations at Suwaihat, Mahout and Duqm area with associated lines for phase 1. It is expected to be completed in 2023. Phase 2 aims to connect phase 1 to the south and will include construction of Barik grid station and the connection of it to Nahadah and Suwaihat 400kV grid stations, expected to be completed in 2025.


Furthermore, Al Wahaibi highlighted the performance and efficiency of the generation sector. Since 2005, through the introduction of progressively more efficient generation plants, OPWP has achieved a 47 per cent reduction in the gas required per unit of electricity production, contributing to savings of more than RO 270 million. In 2020, further improvement is expected in gas utilization and efficiency. This is primarily driven by Ibri and Sohar III IPPs coming on stream, and Sohar IV IWP starting operations in August 2019. After 2021, with the introduction of solar and wind plants, OPWP expects that the gas requirements for electricity generation will fall further.


As part of OPWP strategy to achieve 2040 vision, OPWP plans to procure around 1,600 MW of RE IPPs in the MIS by 2025. More than 13 per cent of the generation process will be provided by renewable energy sources, primarily solar energy. By 2026, the renewables share will reach 14.5 per cent. Total direct investment in power and water generation sector is estimated at RO 3.850 billion.


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