23/11/2014 05:05 AST
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has urged Oman’s authorities to put in place an efficient policy and regulatory framework to help kickstart the development of commercial-scale renewable energy in the Sultanate. The intergovernmental body, which has its global headquarters in the United Arab Emirates, made the recommendation in a newly released report on the current status of Oman’s preparedness in taking the renewables route to meeting at least part of its burgeoning energy demand. Dubbed ‘Renewables Readiness Assessment (RRA), the study also spells out the actions necessary to be taken to overcome barriers to renewable energy deployment.
Oman’s Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW), which has been tasked by the government to study options for renewable energy development in the Sultanate, collaborated with IRENA in the drafting of the report. In his foreword, PAEW Chairman Mohammed Abdullah al Mahrouqi said the Renewables Readiness Assessment study was among a number of important initiatives undertaken by the Sultanate to enhance the deployment of renewable energy technologies. “(The study) demonstrates the significant potential for renewable energy investment, as well as decision-making challenges in this area and the steps already in place to overcome them,” Al Mahrouqi said, adding that similar studies are also being pursued in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Germany’s International Cooperation Agency (GIZ). These include an ongoing national energy study, the energy conservation master plan, a rooftop solar panel study and the development of a wind-resource atlas, as well as the implementation of several strategic pilot or demonstration projects.
“The Government of Oman seeks to achieve its short, medium and long-term targets based on vast renewable energy resources, through the formulation of policies that bring together the findings of all of these valuable studies,” he stated.
Importantly, the IRENA study proposes, among other things, the formulation of a well-defined National Renewable Energy Strategy as well as an action plan that spells out realistic and coherent targets for renewable energy deployment.
It also moots the establishment of a dedicated institution or department that will serve as the lead agency driving renewables deployment. “The dedicated entity would have a wide range of responsibilities within the national renewable energy strategy and action plan. It should in particular coordinate activities of ministries and other government agencies; serve as the focal entity for recommending, designing and implementing financial incentives for renewable energy deployment; coordinate closely with (the Authority for Electricity Regulation — Oman) AER; and initiate a rationalising of local regulatory and planning requirements,” the report said.
Equally imperative, the report says, is the need to create a financial mechanism for providing price support to renewable energy. “Because of the low electricity prices in the market, Oman needs to create a financial mechanism for providing price support to renewable energy in order to attract domestic financial resources and international investments in renewable energy,” it stresses.
For more on this
Click Here
Oman Daily Observer
Please wait...
