Oman Electricity launched the Live Operation on the 1st of January 2022
Oman Electricity launched the Live Operation on the 1st of January 2022
The Oman Power and Water Company (OPWP) has achieved a significant milestone in the implementation of Oman electricity market which is the Middle East’s first electricity spot market, and it is pleased to announce the commencement of the live market operation. This market will provide new era of the efficient and economical based offered prices for the forecasted demand.
The Oman Electricity Market is new concept in the region which provide further electricity sector liberalization by getting immediate price offers to satisfy the demand-generation requirements. The launch of electricity market will provide opportunities for diverse generation sources that do not usually compete in OPWP’s normal PPA tender process, to improve the transparency and efficiency of the operation of the electricity sector and to provide options for existing generation plant once their PPAs reach the end of their term.
The Electricity Market will enable OPWP to purchase some electricity through a short-term market run each day, with prices for each half hour set each day based on what generation companies have offered to sell. The existing P(W)PAs between Generators and OPWP will remain in force until the expiry of their terms. Generators with current P(W)PAs will be obliged to participate in the spot market by submitting Offer Data but will continue to receive payments based on the terms of their respective P(W)PAs, rather than based on spot market prices.
During past few years, the Electricity Market has been under development, including the development and testing of the main trading platform called the Market Management System. OPWP is now pleased to announce the commencement of the live operation involving the parties of the market rules who has signed the Framework Agreement between all the stakeholders which are OPWP on its capacity as Market Operator, OPWP on its capacity as Power Procurer, generation companies and OETC.
Latest version of the Market Rules has been shared with the stakeholders and it shall be used as the base of the live operation. Besides, the live Offer Data (for the first day of operations, ie the Go-Live Date) must be submitted in advance of that date, on the preceding day, except for any standing data (beyond what is part of unit registration) which will be submitted earlier.
The electricity market will initially be implemented in the Main Interconnected System across the northern part of Oman, with prospects to expand to cover other regions over time.
