SUMMARY

The paper presents techno-economic studies for grid connection of a new 1500 MW generating plant in the vicinity of Ibri which was commissioned on April 2019. The objective is to justify the required capital expenditure on the basis of the submission of a full, complete and robust study report insuring the transmission system in Oman is planned, developed and operated in an efficient manner. Four options for connecting the Ibri generating plant to the Main Interconnected Transmission System (MITS) have been assessed and the most efficient financially, technically and lower risk option is selected. The options are either to connect the Ibri plant to Mahadha or Izki grid stations through either 220 kV or 400 kV transmission lines.

This paper describes the assessment for each option from different aspects, technically, financially and risk of deliverability of the project. The assessment of each option has been carried out on the basis of the following performance considerations: compliance with the Transmission Security Standard (TSS), capital cost, Net Present Value (NPV), environmental considerations, safety and flood risk assessment. Power losses have also been considered in the NPV calculation. In addition, the paper describes the optimal generation connection design that in accordance with the TSS criteria. The compliance with TSS requirements has been assessed by steady state and dynamic studies for both peak and off peak demand with full evacuation of Ibri IPP power plant. The results include load flow analysis in N, (N-1), (N-M-1) operating conditions, short-circuit levels, and transient stability.