PHOTO
14 September 2016
Muscat - The Sultanate's first gas-fired power generation and water desalination plant at Al Ghubrah in Muscat Governorate will be fully retired by Q3 2018 upon the expiry of the current power and water purchase contracts, according to sector authorities. The scheduled decommissioning of the nation's oldest power and water utility, elements of which came into operation four decades ago in 1976, brings to a close a historic chapter in the development of the Sultanate's pivotal gas-based power generation and water desalination sector.
The maiden project helped fuel the modernisation of the capital region, as well as the growth of surrounding townships early on in the Renaissance.
Developed in stages in trend with demand growth in the rapidly expanding capital region, the plant featured a total of seven multistage flash desalination units by 1999, offering a combined 185,000 cubic metres per day of desalination capacity.
Also in operation were a number of gas turbines, some of which have since been retired.
Following the unbundling and restructuring of the power sector in 2004, ownership and management of the Ghubrah Power and Desalination Plant was placed in the hands of Al Ghubrah Power & Desalination Company (GPDC), a subsidiary of The Electricity Holding Company (Nama Group).
The plant presently comprises a mix of gas turbines offering 430 megawatts of electricity generation capacity, and five multistage flash (MSF) units with a current capacity of 140,000 m3/d (equivalent to 31 million imperial gallons per day -- MIGD).
Last year, OPWP extended the contracts for several gas turbines units up to September 30, 2018, enabling around 405 MW of electricity generation capacity to be available over this extended timeframe.
Contracts governing the offtake of potable water from the desalination units however will expire in March 2018, upon which all of the desalination capacity is expected to be decommissioned.
Announcing the planned retirement of the once-landmark project, the state-owned Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) -- the sole procurer and offtaker of power and water capacity -- said: "At Ghubra the oldest of the large desalination plants is coming to the end of its commercial and technical life and is being decommissioned in stages until 2018 when all the capacity should be closed."
It further added: "The construction of a new large scale Independent Water Project (IWP) using reverse osmosis (RO) technology on a site adjacent to the old Ghubra plant was completed in late 2015 and is now in full commercial operation. This new plant will effectively replace the old Ghubra plant with much more efficient modern technology." Electricity output from the Ghubrah plant declined 13 per cent to 1,961 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2015, while water output dropped 16 per cent to 42.9 million cubic metres.
Muscat - The Sultanate's first gas-fired power generation and water desalination plant at Al Ghubrah in Muscat Governorate will be fully retired by Q3 2018 upon the expiry of the current power and water purchase contracts, according to sector authorities. The scheduled decommissioning of the nation's oldest power and water utility, elements of which came into operation four decades ago in 1976, brings to a close a historic chapter in the development of the Sultanate's pivotal gas-based power generation and water desalination sector.
The maiden project helped fuel the modernisation of the capital region, as well as the growth of surrounding townships early on in the Renaissance.
Developed in stages in trend with demand growth in the rapidly expanding capital region, the plant featured a total of seven multistage flash desalination units by 1999, offering a combined 185,000 cubic metres per day of desalination capacity.
Also in operation were a number of gas turbines, some of which have since been retired.
Following the unbundling and restructuring of the power sector in 2004, ownership and management of the Ghubrah Power and Desalination Plant was placed in the hands of Al Ghubrah Power & Desalination Company (GPDC), a subsidiary of The Electricity Holding Company (Nama Group).
The plant presently comprises a mix of gas turbines offering 430 megawatts of electricity generation capacity, and five multistage flash (MSF) units with a current capacity of 140,000 m3/d (equivalent to 31 million imperial gallons per day -- MIGD).
Last year, OPWP extended the contracts for several gas turbines units up to September 30, 2018, enabling around 405 MW of electricity generation capacity to be available over this extended timeframe.
Contracts governing the offtake of potable water from the desalination units however will expire in March 2018, upon which all of the desalination capacity is expected to be decommissioned.
Announcing the planned retirement of the once-landmark project, the state-owned Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) -- the sole procurer and offtaker of power and water capacity -- said: "At Ghubra the oldest of the large desalination plants is coming to the end of its commercial and technical life and is being decommissioned in stages until 2018 when all the capacity should be closed."
It further added: "The construction of a new large scale Independent Water Project (IWP) using reverse osmosis (RO) technology on a site adjacent to the old Ghubra plant was completed in late 2015 and is now in full commercial operation. This new plant will effectively replace the old Ghubra plant with much more efficient modern technology." Electricity output from the Ghubrah plant declined 13 per cent to 1,961 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2015, while water output dropped 16 per cent to 42.9 million cubic metres.
© Oman Daily Observer 2016
