Conrad Prabhu –
Muscat, Dec 31 –
Around 1,000-1,500 buildings used by government ministries, enterprises and institutions in the Sultanate will be the subject of a major energy audit programme being spearheaded by the Authority for Electricity Regulation Oman (AER) as part of its Energy Efficiency and Conservation strategy, dubbed Yaseer.

Falling within the purview of the energy audit drive are government organisations that annually consume in excess of 150 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity and are thus liable to subsidy-free Cost Reflective Tariffs (CRT), according to the Authority.

Qais bin Saud al Zakwani, Executive Director of AER, said the audit will target all the buildings and facilities of government organisations falling with the ambit of the programme. The goal, he said, is to influence electricity usage patterns at these organisations through a combination of changes in consumption behaviours and building retrofits aimed ultimately at achieving a reduction in their energy bills.

The ambitious programme follows a pilot audit targeting five government entities, said the official. We selected a combination of old and new buildings for the pilot, with the audit focusing on two key criteria: (i) what changes can be made to consumption patterns without any new investment, and (ii) what changes can be made with minimum cost in support of energy conservation.

Improvements in consumption behaviours contributed to seven to eight per cent in energy savings. With minimum investments in energy efficient equipment and devices, the savings rose to as much as 32 to 35 per cent, according to the Executive Director. Consumption trends and behaviours were found to be similar in the new buildings covered during the pilot audit.

The Yaseer programme, launched last month, comprises a series of initiatives designed to make consumers government, commercial and private aware of the importance of energy efficiency through reduced consumption.

The initiative stems from a directive issued by the Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council in 2015, assigning responsibility for driving energy efficiency to the Authority.
A Request for Proposals (RfP) leading to the award of a contract for retrofitting and enhancing the energy efficiency of an initial batch of government buildings in the Sultanate is proposed to be issued in the first quarter of 2019.

Energy service companies (ESCOs) will be invited to bid for the Authoritys contract to provide energy audit and retrofit services covering a certain number of government buildings.

Building audits will commence during the second and third quarters of 2019, according to the Authoritys timeline.

 

 

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