Oman’s Mazoon Electricity Company has invited contractors to submit bids for the contract to build a substation and associated infrastructure in the South Batinah governorate.

Contractors have until 2 December to submit bids for the contract. The work will involve building a 33kV substation and 33kV incoming feeders and 33kV outgoing feeders.

The projects are part of the sultanate’s efforts to upgrade and expand its electricity infrastructure. Oman’s electricity system is divided into two main zones, the Muscat Interconnected System (MIS) and the Salalah system, both of which are expected to continue to record robust growth in demand.

Peak demand in the MIS grew by an average annual rate of 9 per cent between the 2006 and 2012, from 2,544MW to 4,293MW. The demand growth is expected to continue, with peak demand expected to grow at an average of 9.5 per cent per year, from 4,293MW in 2012 to 8,106MW in 2019.

Population growth, infrastructure development, and industrial and tourism growth are expected to increase the peak demand growth for electricity in the Salalah system by an average rate of 12 per cent a year until 2019, from 389MW in 2011 to 848MW in 2019.

In August, the Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) invited companies to bid for transmission and distribution projects in the Misfah area, in the northeast of the sultanate. Contractors have until 21 October to submit bids for the contract to build a 400kV transmission line between Izki and Misfah. OETC has set the same submission date for the contract to build a 400kV substation in Misfah.