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Operational trials at Dhofar Wind Project, touted as the sultanate’s first utility-scale wind power project, is likely to start in July or August this year, according to a senior official of Rural Areas Electricity Company (RAECO), also known as Tanweer.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the annual press briefing of Nama Group on Monday, Saleh Nasser Majid al Rumhi, chief executive officer of Tanweer said the work on the project is progressing well and all 13 turbines have already been installed.
“As part of the project, a grid station with a capacity of around 135kV is in the final stage of setting up. The project will soon go into initial per-commissioning phase next month and hopefully operational trials will start by July or in August,” he said.
The US$100mn Dhofar Wind Project is the first of its kind in the Gulf region. The project is expected to generate about 160GWh per year and that can meet the power needs of about 16,000 homes and will help avoid the release of 110,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
Rumhi said that they are looking to officially inaugurate the project by November this year.
Speaking about their preparedness to maintain the project in long run, he said, “We are now working towards building in-house operational and maintenance capabilities. At the same time the operational and maintenance contract has been awarded to GE. This will also help in knowledge transfer as well as building know-how capabilities for future requirements.”
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