DPC to add 50MW power for peak demand

By V L Srinivasan

Muscat, May 31 - To mitigate the shortfall in power generation during peak demand periods this year and in 2011, Dhofar Power Company (DPC) has decided to go for temporary additional power generation in the Dhofar region.

The other factor in favour of the decision to generate additional power was taken at the request of state-owned Oman Power and Water Procurement Co (OPWP), which has been exploring all means to meet the growing demand for power in the sultanate. DPC is one of the subsidiaries of Electricity Holding Company (EHC).

In the Dhofar region, maximum demand is expected to grow from 297MW in 2009 to 615MW by 2016, an average annual increase of around 11 per cent, or 45MW per year, with annual energy demand growing at a similar rate, from 1.7 TWh in 2009 to 3.6TWh in 2016.

According to EHC chief executive Karl Matacz, the DPC has made arrangements for renting mobile gas turbines and the same are being erected and scheduled to be commissioned by the first week of June.

“The project will generate about 50MW of additional power on a temporary basis for the Salalah Power System using trailer-mounted LM 2500 aero derivative gas turbine generators, which have been rented from GE International in Oman,” he told Muscat Daily.

The primary fuel for this facility would be natural gas with diesel oil as the secondary fuel. The additional generation facility would be located on the land leased from the Salalah Free Zone in Raysut Industrial Area, which is next to DPC's new power station.

“The generators are taken on rent for 18 months from June 1 and the project is expected to begin generation of electricity shortly,” he said.

During the first quarter of 2010, the company has also taken up execution of fast track projects, worth approximately RO6mn, and completed them to strengthen the transmission and distribution system to avoid overloading and interruptions during summer, he added.