OETC to Expand Oman Grid Infrastructure

Majority state-owned Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC), the operator of the country’s national grid, says it has budgeted an expenditure of US$2.2 billion towards the execution of as many as 32 key projects over the 2024 – 2028 timeframe – projects that are necessary to integrate, expand and modernise Oman’s critical power transmission and dispatch infrastructure. The investment is also key to enabling the evacuation of renewable power from a host of new solar and wind energy projects planned for development across the country. This sizable allocation comes on top of a capex of US$1.2 billion already made by OETC towards a slate of grid expansion projects implemented over the 2019-2023 timeframe, the company stated in a new report.

Both sets of projects are “designed for the evacuation of new generation capacity and support load growth and system security standards,” said OETC. It cited in this regard its central role in managing the intermittent nature of renewable energy as Oman prepares to ramp up the share of clean energy generation from 5.9 per cent of total capacity as of 2024, to 32.7 per cent by 2028. Renewable energy’s component is projected to further rise to 70 per cent by 2040. To achieve this target, Nama Power and Water Procurement Company (PWP) – the sole procurer of new capacity and off-taker of output – aims to procure more than 4 GW of solar and wind-based Independent Power Projects (IPP) across the country by 2029.

OETC also noted that its North-South Interconnect Project (Rabt) will increase access to vast areas of the country with renewable energy potential, once the Main Interconnected System (MIS) in the north and Dhofar System in the south are integrated. Rabt will also play a vital role in conserving the environment and achieving Oman’s Net Zero Emissions (NZE) target by 2050, in line with the Omani government’s drive to switch to renewable energy. “The Rabt Project aims to increase efficiency, integration, and security of the national electricity transmission network while reducing carbon emissions. The project’s estimated reduction in carbon emissions is expected to exceed 474,000 tonnes per annum following the closure of 14 diesel operated plant, which will also save more than 175mn litres of diesel on an annual basis, thus reducing costs by more than US$170 million,” the grid operator added.

OETC is 51 per cent owned by state-run Nama Holding, and 49 per cent by State Grid International Development Ltd (SGID), which is part of the wholly Chinese-owned State Grid Corporation of China, the world’s largest transmission network operator. OETC’s grid infrastructure consists of an Extra High Voltage (EHV) transmission network covering over 95 per cent of Oman’s electricity market. Its 113 grid stations are interconnected by 132kV, 220kV and 400kV overhead lines and underground cables. The transmission network has expanded from 3,806 km of power lines at the end of 2010 to over 10,066 km at the end of 2023.