## 7 Smart Grid Scenario in Oman

Table 3: _Cont._total customers in these categories represent only 1% of the total accounts, these customers consume 30% of the total energy. Hence, it tends to draw 20% of the total subsidies given in the electricity sector. The Sultanate of Oman has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2% by 2030 by integrating renewable energy [106]. In January 2017, the new standards for connecting small-scale solar PV generations into the grid was completed as was announced by the AER in Oman. This would enable the purchase of electricity from roof-top PV systems connected in distribution networks [107]. In January 2015, the government has doubled the price of gas (US$3.01/mBtu) supplied to industrial estates with 3% annual rise [108]. The AER has further implemented new requirements for rural areas in March 2013, which should be fulfilled by Rural Areas Electricity Company (RAEC). A component (25%) of renewable energy technology (solar or wind) should be included in each project submitted to the Authority [109]. In Mid-January 2016, the fuel pricing policy was reformed in Oman to accommodate gasoline and diesel prices in every month comparing with the international benchmark. Distribution companies started to install digital meters in some areas. The non-technical loss in the MIS has been reduced from 24.6% in 2004 to 9.2% in 2016 because of AER application of incentive-based price control mechanism. A project is currently undertaking to implement Wide Area Monitoring (WAN) system for OETC, which will be used by Load Dispatch Center (LDC) in OETC for real time operation. The monitoring and relaying systems would be based on PMU, which will enhance the monitoring capability of the LDC. Sultan Qaboos University has been heavily working on developing models for a smarter grid system in the Sultanate of Oman. With regular summits [110], seminars [111], and conferences [112] being held around Oman specifically focusing on the transitioning of the Oman National grid into a Smart Grid, the university's academics and students have always played an important role. For example, in the Oman Energy and Water Conference, held on 23-25 May 2016, some recommendations were presented by the academics of the university which included developing a smart grid roadmap for Oman, installing grid-connected rooftop PV, establishing 400 kV modern substations based on Gas Insulated Switchgear, expanding large scale windfarm projects, doing bulk interconnection among the power modules to reap benefits from the 400 kV planned GCC interconnection, incorporating hybrid renewable energy systems such as, PV-Diesel, Wind-Diesel, PV-Wind-Diesel-Battery etc. The recommendations also included to set a target to reduce 50% of the diesel consumption by implementing hybrid renewable energy systems. College of Engineering in Sultan Qaboos University is currently developing a small-scale pilot smart grid system. The system consists of PV, wind turbine, batteries, data network and bi-directional meter The system is connected to the grid but also can work in island mode. The layout of the SQU SG system is provided in Figure 13[102,113]. Figure 13: Layout of the SQU smart system consisting of PV Array, Wind Turbines, Battery banks, data network and bi-directional meter grid. This SG system is expected to contribute to the 50% reduction of diesel consumption of Oman [102,113]. The College of Engineering in SQU has built an eco-house, as shown in Figure 14. The objectives are to design, build, operate a highly energy-efficient house to promote green architecture design and construction practice, and to promote awareness about zero-energy homes. The Eco-house is opened to public as a permanent exhibition, information and research center. The performance of the Eco-house has been monitoring and testing using a Data Acquisition System (DAS), and the output is being published on website [96].