The Rural Areas Electricity Company (Tanweer), a vital source of power generation for rural towns located beyond the reach of the country’s two main grids, says it is exploring the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a cleaner and cost-competitive alternative to diesel currently powering its sprawling network of power plants distributed across its license.
Tanweer – part of Nama Group – currently operates around 25 diesel-powered electricity plants of a total installed capacity of around 428 MW distributed across parts of Al Wusta, Al Dakhiliyah and Al Dhahirah governorates. Together, they produced 660 gigawatt-hours of electricity in 2022, representing around 65 per cent of total electricity supplied by Tanweer across its license. The remaining 35 per cent was sourced from the networks of Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and the Central Utilities Company (Marafiq).
Given the high cost of diesel-based power generation and the sizable CO2 footprint associated with the fuel, Tanweer has announced that it is actively exploring cleaner alternatives.
“The Company is in the process of assessing the feasibility of CNG as an alternative source of fuel to reduce costs and dependency on diesel power stations and substituting more efficient, cheaper and cleaner sources of power supply,” said Ahmed Amur al Mahrizi, Chairman of the Board of Directors – Tanweer.
“Tanweer’s strategic vision aligns with Oman 2040 vision of going greener as the Company strives to explore and adopt alternative sources of power supply to reduce diesel dependency, unit cost and carbon emissions,” added Ahmed Said Al Harthy, CEO, in Tanweer’s 2022 Annual Report.
Eco-friendly CNG is essentially natural gas compressed to less than 1 per cent of its volume. It is widely used in transportation because it is considered safer and non-toxic compared to petrol or diesel. Of late, CNG is rapidly becoming the fuel of choice at remote power stations for both commercial and environmental reasons.
Significantly, the shift to low carbon fuel resources, including renewables, is part of Tanweer’s strategy to reduce the unit cost of electricity production in its jurisdiction by 65 per cent by the year 2026. This target is also sought to be achieved through linkages with the gas-powered networks of PDO and Marafiq, as well as the national grid, it said.
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