Oman to support rooftop solar, power potential estimated at 1.4GW

Share

Oman’s Authority for Electricity Regulation (AER) is promoting solar power generation among local homeowners. The regulator is currently working on its Solar Rooftop Project, a program that will make it possible for people to install PV systems on their rooftops and sell generated power in exchange for cuts in their electricity tariffs.

“We are currently establishing minimum technical standards and metering to compensate (customers for electricity supplied to the grid) from their rooftop photovoltaic installations,” the AER’s executive director Qais bin Saud al Zakwani told the Oman Daily Observer.

Last year, a study by Oman’s Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW) estimated that rooftop PV systems installed across the country could potentially generate 1.4 GW of renewable energy. In the Oman capital Muscat alone, the generated power capacity could reach 450 MW, the study shows.

The key part of the research was to investigate the importance of incentives for renewable energy development. Announcing the result of the research for the press, the PAEW’s Senior Engineer Khalil Alzidi called for introduction of a Feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme in the country:

“One of the recommendations that came out of the study was for the introduction of a feed-in-tariff mechanism, which does not exist at the moment,” he told the Oman Daily Observer. “The absence of FITs is one of the shortcomings that needs to be addressed if private investment in renewable energy development is to make headway in the Sultanate.”

Whether or not Oman’s government is going to follow this advice soon, the introduction of the Solar Rooftop Project is an important step along the road towards more solar power. According to AER’s executive director, the initiative is expected not only to drive the growth of renewable power capacity, but also enhance security of electricity supply during contingencies.

The Solar Rooftop Project will initially focus on residential units but can eventually be extended to commercial rooftops, Zakwani said to Reuters. He also added that it was too early to estimate the financial size of the program, which is expected to be introduced by mid-year.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Popular content

Agrivoltaics can increase grape yield by up to 60%

29 November 2024 French agrivoltaics company Sun'Agri says that two of its facilities increased grape yields by 20% to 60% in 2024, compared to areas without solar pan...

Share

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.