Muscat
The Public Services Regulatory Authority announced the implementation of 10 future projects and initiatives in the fields of energy, renewable energy, water, and wastewater management as part of supporting the efforts of the Sultanate of Oman to achieve net-zero emissions and the national targets of the “Oman 2040” vision, in collaboration with several government entities and licensed companies.
This announcement was made during the Authority’s annual media meeting, which was sponsored by His Excellency Eng. Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi, Minister of Energy and Minerals.
His Excellency Dr. Mansour bin Talib Al Hinai, Chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Authority, confirmed that the Authority continues to review the costs of service sectors to ensure their governance in line with the reduction of government support.
He announced that the future initiatives and projects include maximizing the benefit from the Wadi Dayqah Dam through the assignment of a water purification and energy storage project, a feasibility study project for utilizing geothermal energy, a project for converting waste into energy as biofuel for cement, community solar power generation stations utilizing health and educational facilities in Oman, preparing a regulatory framework for energy transmission, completing a study to initiate competition in electricity supply, supporting the Authority with five scholarships for a master’s program in sustainability in collaboration with Sultan Qaboos University in regulatory disciplines, covering the costs of issuing electrical licenses for Omani citizens for a period of five years, and covering the training costs for 500 technicians for three years to obtain a certified electrician license.
He reviewed the performance standards of regulated companies, stating that statistics in this area showed a 9% increase in the share of renewable energy production from the total energy production in Oman by 2024.
Regarding monitoring compliance with sector regulations, operational standards, and Omani electrical specifications and health and safety, he clarified that a 95% compliance rate was achieved in 2024. In terms of increasing beneficiary satisfaction, the achieved rate reached 75%, up from a targeted 70% in 2024. The continuity of water supply reached 97%, while the rate of unexpected electricity outages was 14%, and the reliability of the transmission network reached 99.9%.
On the transition to sustainable energy use, he announced a transformation plan that will continue until 2030, establishing a pathway for sustainable energy projects to be implemented by licensed companies, such as the opening of the Dhofar 1 wind power project in 2019, which produces 50 megawatts. The Ibri 2 solar power project has also entered service with a production capacity of 500 megawatts, while the Manah 1 and Manah 2 solar projects are expected to produce 1000 megawatts by 2025.
