Efficient Energy for Oman’s
Expansion
The Barka 3 power plant represents the most efficient
thermal power generating technology available in
Oman. This exemplar of economic efficiency also has
a high degree of reliability and availability, delivering power as required to support the country’s strong
economic growth through its long, hot summers.
Text: Ward Pincus
Proud past and prosperous
present: The illuminated Fort
Al Mirani overlooks Oman’s
thriving capital Muscat.
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82 Living Energy · No. 9 December 2013
Photos: Ahmed Abdulqader
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Efficient technology is central to the Sultanate’s development,
according to OPWP’s CEO Ahmed Bin Saleh Al Jahdhami.
“The efficient use of natural
resources is key to providing
sustainable growth.”
Barka 3, a 744-megawatt combined cycle power plant located on Oman’s northeast
coast, is currently the most efficient power plant in the country.
Ahmed Bin Saleh Al Jahdhami, CEO of OPWP
I
The SPPA-T3000 instrumentation
and control system automates the
operation of Barka 3.
84 Living Energy · No. 9 | December 2013
t’s early June, and the afternoon temperature in Barka,
Oman is more than 33 °C with
humidity above 60 percent. Juma
Saleh Issa Al Maskari is walking
through the recently commissioned
Barka 3 combined cycle gas turbine
plant, performing his role as a “local
operator,” working hands-on with the
equipment, and complementing the
work of the control room operators.
Although he and his colleagues are
well accustomed to the heat, the
sweat still marks his uniform and
drips from beneath his safety helmet.
Summer begins early in Oman, as it
does in much of the Arabian Gulf. By
the third week in April, the average
high temperature is above 35 °C; it
rises even further towards June and
July, and does not fall below 35 °C
until October. As might be expected,
summer is the peak season for power
demand.
But it’s not just the weather that drives
electricity demand in Oman; the
country is also experiencing rapid
growth. The International Monetary
Fund predicts that the country’s average annual real GDP will grow by
5.4 percent in the non-oil sector
through 2018. Meanwhile, large public investment in infrastructure, and
economic diversification in tourism,
logistics, heavy industry, and manufacturing all depend on electricity.
So does the expanding population,
which the World Bank estimates is
growing at 2.25 percent a year.
According to the Oman Power and
Water Procurement Company (OPWP)
– the government-owned company
responsible for managing the country’s power and water production
sector – peak electricity demand has
grown by an average of 9 percent a
year over the past six years, and will
grow by 9.5 percent annually through
2019 to 8,106 megawatts.
Overall power demand in Oman is
expected to grow at 9.7 percent annually through the same period to
41.4 terawatt-hours. Demand for water, which is primarily supplied from
desalination plants using thermal
waste heat from power plants or electricity-powered reverse osmosis, is
growing by a more modest 6 percent
a year.
It is absolutely crucial for the OPWP
to be confident that its independent
power and water producers are able
to commission plant capacity on time,
and that they will meet their contracted power output and reliability
parameters.
There is little room for error when
electricity demand is growing this
quickly and when 35 to 40 °C temperatures for months on end make airconditioning essential. It’s equally
important for the country to be able
to guarantee power availability to investors building industrial and manufacturing facilities in the country.
Powering Economic
Development
“Energy plays a key role in the development of the economy,” explains
Ahmed Bin Saleh Al Jahdhami, OPWP’s
Chief Executive Officer. “The efficient
use of natural resources is key to providing sustainable growth and development. The provision of reliable and
economically sustainable power is a
major contributor to the development of the Sultanate of Oman.”
In 2010, OPWP awarded a US$1.7 billion
project to a consortium led by French
utility GDF Suez to build, own, and
operate two identical 744-megawatt
combined cycle gas turbine power
u
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Shankar Krishnamoorthy of GDF SUEZ Energy International, the lead
investor in Al Suwadi Power Company, which owns and operates Barka 3.
“We have a reputation for
making capacity available
when needed, and operating
with the highest reliability.”
Shankar Krishnamoorthy, CEO and President
of GDF Suez Energy South Asia, Middle East and Africa
plants in Oman. The two plants, Barka
3 and Sohar 2, are located in separate
cities along the nation’s northeast
coast.
For 27-year old Al Maskari, one of the
approximately 30 engineers and operators who work 12-hour shifts in
teams of four or five to run the Barka 3
plant, the role of power in development is what gives his job so much
meaning. “Water and electricity are
essential to the life and development
of the nation. I am proud to work at
a place that produces the electricity
that is supporting this development
and is helping move the nation forward.”
He’s also proud to work at a plant
that demonstrates how far Oman has
come in the power sector. He says
Oman has moved from reliance on
less efficient and more polluting
86 Living Energy · No. 9 | December 2013
diesel generators to plants such as
Barka 3, which represents “the latest
and highest technology,” and is
“extremely efficient and quite simple
to run.”
While every country tries to optimize
efficiency in power generation, this
is a particular focus for Oman, which
has moderate natural gas reserves
that must be shared among power
producers, downstream petrochemical projects, and export customers.
“Oman’s gas resources are becoming
more and more valuable for the
country. At OPWP, we have to ensure
we are using these natural gas resources efficiently and effectively in
our power plants,” says Talal Al
Mahrouqi, a Project Manager on
Barka 3 for OPWP.
Best Fuel Efficiency
OPWP, which is the sole buyer of electricity in Oman and the government
agency responsible for awarding independent power and water producer
projects (IPPs and IWPPs), uses the
bid requirements for new power plants
to ensure this high efficiency.
“During the bidding stage for Barka 3
and Sohar 2, the main criterion for
being the preferred bidder – along
with demonstrating a proven technology, environmental criteria, reliability, and financial viability – is offering
the lowest price per kilowatt-hour,”
Al Mahrouqi says. The consortium
that won the Barka 3 plant was selected in part “because it could provide
the combined cycle power plant with
the best fuel efficiency,” he adds.
“The Barka 3 bid was the first time
that OPWP incorporated a high notional price for the natural gas supplied to the plant,” says Mario Savastano, Executive Vice President Asset
Management – Construction GDF
Suez Energy South Asia, Middle East
and Africa. GDF Suez has ownership
stakes in more than 19 power plants
in the Middle East and many more
across the globe, and is the lead investor in Al Suwadi Power Company, u
The setup at Barka 3 includes two state-of-the-art SGT5-4000F gas turbines for maximum efficiency.
Embracing the IPP Model
Oman was one of the first countries in
the Gulf region to independent power
projects (IPPs) and independent water
and power projects (IWPPs) to develop
its power infrastructure. Today, virtually
all power in Oman comes from IPPs and
IWPPs, as a result of the 2004 reorganization of the country’s power sector.
The Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) was established
the same year with responsibility for
ensuring sufficient supply of electricity
and water in the country. “The I(W)PP
model has been successful in the development of capacity in the Sultanate of
Oman,” says Ahmed Bin Saleh Al Jahdhami, OPWP’s Chief Executive Officer.
OPWP has three core functions: demand
forecasting and modeling; new capacity
implementation – including the bidding
process on IPPs and IWPPs; and off-take
and client contracts.
Since 2004, OPWP has awarded 12 IPPs
and IWPPs to private developer consortia. Eleven of the resulting plants are
operational, while one is to be commissioned in 2014. Based on demand forecasts, new project bid proposals are being developed for future plants.
As part of each bid award agreement,
which includes a 15-year power purchase agreement with OPWP, the developer consortium creates a special purpose company that owns the plant.
Once operations at each new plant are
proven, shares in the company are
floated on the Oman Stock Exchange.
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Optimal Balance
Across CAPEX, OPEX
and Performance
Lothar Balling is the Executive Vice President
for Global Project Execution. He speaks with
Living Energy about Siemens’ success in enabling power plant solutions – from planning
and engineering to turnkey delivery.
In the Middle East and Asia, Siemens is the
leading original equipment manufacturer with
a proven track record of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects – most of
which are turnkeys and consortia. “Ranging
from project management and engineering,
site and construction management to quality
as well as health, safety and environment assurance, our experience stems from nearly 300
EPC contracts worldwide. Among them are
numerous projects in the Middle East, namely
in Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Oman, Bahrain and
Kuwait,” Balling explains.
With an extensive network of satisfied customers around the globe,
what is the key to success? “We value strong
partnerships and are
known to be trustworthy
and reliable,” says Balling. “We take pride in always delivering on time,
on budget, and to performance specifications.”
Lothar Balling,
Siemens’ Executive Vice
President for Global
Project Execution.
Barka 3 was commissioned on time for the summer season of 2013.
which owns and operates Barka 3.
“Siemens approached us with a good
solution for the two plants, setting
up an optimized package in a combined cycle configuration with very
good efficiency that addressed the
high notional cost of natural gas,”
Savastano says.
“Oman’s gas
resources are
becoming
more and more
valuable for
the country.”
Talal Al Mahrouqi,
Project Manager
for Barka 3 at OPWP
Siemens as OEM and
EPC Provider
Photo: Siemens
“We aim to create sustainable value for our customers. Our solutions strike an optimal balance
across capital costs, operation and maintenance
considerations, and plant performance,” he
adds. “One of our major assets is the potential
to optimize performance-related equipment.
This includes gas and steam turbines, the generator, the heat recovery steam generator, main
pumps and piping. An EPC from a Siemens-led
consortium – as compared to a split contract
concept – results in shortened lead times, minimal house load, optimal reliability and availability, and reduced performance and schedule
risk.”
Barka 3 and Sohar 2, both of which
were commissioned at the beginning
of April 2013, feature the first F-class
gas turbines in Oman. Each plant
has two SGT5-4000F gas turbines,
one SST5-5000 steam turbine, three
SGen5-2000H generators, and various other electrical equipment.
u
On location in Barka 3: Dubai-based director Ali F. Mostafa films a tracking
shot of Juma Al Maskari – by making use of a tricycle.
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Barka
Facts and Figures
The Siemens SPPA-T3000 instrumentation and control system is sufficiently advanced to enable all power
plant automation tasks, and it collects, processes and delivers a wide
range of data allowing the entire
plant to be operated by as few as four
engineers.
For both plants, Siemens was not only
the original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) of the core technologies, but
also led the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) consortium with GS Engineering & Construction of South Korea that delivered
the turnkey project.
An important aspect of the project’s
success was its on-time delivery. “In
this regard, the consortium could set
a benchmark for Oman,” says Martin
von Hassel, the Siemens Project Director on the project. He adds that the
collaboration among Siemens, GS
and OPWP, “was a pleasure, as we
worked together as one team.”
For about 100 years, Siemens has integrated mechanical, electrical, and
chemical processes for power plants.
That expertise contributed to a realized efficiency of 57.6 percent – the
most efficient thermal power plants
in Oman.
The Siemens technology is efficient,
while delivering high availability –
having demonstrated in other plants
that it experiences fewer unscheduled outages and requires less time
offline for scheduled maintenance.
For Middle East governments, “security of supply and availability of power
projects and water projects to meet
demand as it arises, particularly in
summer, is very important,” says
Shankar Krishnamoorthy, CEO and
President of GDF Suez Energy South
Asia, Middle East and Africa.
This makes it even more valuable that
Oman’s peak power demand is forecast to grow
by 9.5 percent a year through 2019, higher than the 9 percent average
annual growth registered since 2006.
By 2019, overall power demand is expected to reach
41.4 terawatt-hours, up from 22 terawatt-hours in 2012.
Real GDP growth in Oman’s non-oil sector is expected to grow by
5.4 percent through 2018, according to IMF forecasts.
The country’s population is 3.31 million, and it’s growing
by 2.25 percent a year, says the World Bank.
View Dubai’s acclaimed director Ali F. Mostafa’s film about what drives Oman’s
power people:
Siemens.com/energy-channel/
barka3
Living Energy at
Barka 3 is a 744-megawatt combined cycle gas turbine plant with
an efficiency of 57.6 percent, the most efficient thermal power plant
Local operator Juma Al Maskari on inspection tour at Barka 3.
GDF Suez has developed a reputation
for “making capacity available when
needed, and having plants that operate with the highest reliability.”
The company maintains this reputation by selecting technology and EPC
partners such as Siemens. “First and
in use today in Oman.
The Siemens solution at Barka 3 included:
• Two SGT5-4000F gas turbines
• One SST5-5000 steam turbine
• Three SGen5-2000H generators
• Electrical equipment
Poetry in Power
• One SPPA-T3000 instrumentation and control system
• Complete turnkey delivery as lead partner in EPC consortium with
GS Engineering and Construction
Siemens technology today is helping generate about one-third of total
installed capacity in Oman. By mid-2014, that number will rise to 50 percent of total capacity.
90 Living Energy · No. 9 | December 2013
foremost, we contract with reputable
suppliers and go with proven technologies. We structure the projects
in such a way that the responsibility
devolves on reputable contractors,
resulting in the contractors meeting
the time schedule and delivering the
equipment that meets guaranteed
performance levels,” he says.
“If we meet all these requirements,
then our clients will be happy with
us. They are then able to meet the
demands of industry and the public,
and they benefit fully from the capacity that has been installed,” he adds.
Talal Al Mahrouqi, Project Manager
at OPWP, in discussion with journalist
Ward Pincus.
Barka 3 is a beautiful facility, surprisingly so given that it is a power plant.
Its steam exhaust stacks and natural
gas pipelines are brightly colored,
the silvery piping for the heat recovery steam generator moves with flowing symmetry across the plant, and
the overall layout is one of balance
and precision.
Al Maskari, himself a poet, says that
the plant’s beachfront location and
seawater intake facility, which includes
an open-air pool of fast-churning
water, create “an inspirational atmosphere” so powerful that he sometimes writes poetry there.
Generating power is one thing; inspiring poetry is something else entirely. Yet Barka 3 does both – hinting
at the tremendous infrastructure and
human capital available in Oman to
ensure its bright future and successful economic development.
Ward Pincus is a Dubai-based writer who has
lived and worked in the Middle East for more
than twelve years. He reports on business, science, technology, and health issues for publications in the USA, Europe, and the Middle East.
He is a former correspondent for the Associated
Press (AP) in the United Arab Emirates.
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