RAECO to set up gas-based power project at Musandam

By V L Srinivasan

Muscat, Jan 9: The state-owned Rural Areas Electricity Company (RAECO) has decided to set up its first gasfired power plant in Musandam region. The installed capacity of the project is 120MW but there is provision to expand it to 160MW.

The project would also have a desalination plant to produce 6,000 cubic metres of drinking water every day. The officials have already conducted a feasibility study and the plant will be fully commissioned in the next three to five years.

At present, RAECO is serving around 20,000 customers in the rural and remote areas in Dhahirah, Sharqiah, Dakhliyah, Al Wusta and Dhofar regions in the sultanate. “The decision to change the fuel from diesel to gas was taken as the cost of generating electricity by diesel is six times higher than gas,” RAECO general manager Eng Hamed Salim al Magdheri told Muscat Daily.

The project cost is being worked out and it is expected to cater to the needs of around 10,000 customers in Musandam. In fact, RAECO officials are also planning to set up a central power distribution sub-station at Musandam, which has more than 50 per cent of its consumers.

The company is also setting up the 70MW Duqm electrification diesel power plant along with a distribution network to cover8,000 consumers at a cost of RO49mn.

The Duqm project, which mostly meets the demand of the industrial and tourism projects in Al Wusta region, will also have a desalination plant being set up at a cost of RO8mn. The first phase is expected to be completed by first quarter of 2010 and the second phase a year later. “By completing these two projects, the installed
capacity of RAECO will be nearly doubled - from 223MW till December 2008 to 413-450MW,” he said.

Besides, RAECO has received four proposals from private investors for setting up renewable energy projects, which are based on solar photo voltaic technology. The proposals have been submitted with the Authority for Electricity Regulation (AER) for evaluation.

The company has taken up as many as three dozen projects, which include electrification of houses in Al Dahar in Duqm, Wadi Bana in Musandam, Jou A Salam in Dhofar Governorate, Sahsaha-Khasab and Rasaiah in Masirat wilayat.