Feasibility Analysis of Solar Powered Power plant in Sultanate of Oman Arun. S. Gopinath Lecturer - Electrical Power Section Engineering dept., Shinas College of Technology Shinas, Sultanate of Oman Abstract— Sultanate of Oman is Identified as one among the significant solar energy potential Zone. A preliminary study of options for the expansion of power generation capacity has identified solar energy development as potentially prospective The level of Solar Energy density in Oman is among the highest in the world . In this context , a feasibility analysis for solar powered technologies to be done. Taking into consideration of these facts , in this paper an attempt is done for the Feasibility analysis of Photo Voltaic & Concentrating Solar power(CSP)technologies in different regions of Sultanate of Oman. Keywords— RETscreen4 , GHG emission , Emission factor , Capacity factor , life cycle costing I. INTRODUCTION The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states i.e. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Oman are dependent on fossil fuel (the main cause of carbon emissions); and their economies are reliant on the oil, gas and petrochemical based industries. Electricity demand in Oman is increasing with industrialization. In this paper, the economic feasibility of the Solar Photo Voltaic and Concentrating Solar Power Power plant of 5MW capacity is analysed for different locations in Sultanate of Oman. The locations selected are ; Thumrait , Salalah , Sohar and Nizwa. II. RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES A. Requirement of Renewable Energy Technologies First, As on February 2011, 191 countries in the world have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change (UNFCC) with the goal of achieving stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations. Oman, as a member of UNFCC has agreed on January 2005 to contribute to combating global warming along with the rest of the world[1 To meet the future electricity demand, the government has recently announced to invest on upgradation and construction of the conventional diesel, gas and coal based power plants. This action will persist to enhance the emission of Greenhouse Gases (GHG). To diminish the ill effects of climate-sensitivities and to combat global warming problem, reduction of CO2 and other pollutants is inevitable. For these aspects use of Renewable energy technologies is the best option. The level of solar energy density in Oman is among the highest in the world. There is significant scope for developing both solar PV and Concentrating Solar Power throughout Oman. Solar energy systems can meet the Oman’s peak demand requirements and provide some electricity for export. High solar energy density is available in all regions of Oman. B. Solar Photo Voltaic Power Generation The solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is a well proven technology for producing Electricity. PV systems are either grid connected (with electricity fed directly into the grid system) or PV systems used in off-grid applications in small power systems in combination with diesel power gen-sets.. The potential for producing electricity using PV systems is highest during the summer which coincides with the period of peak electricity demand in Oman. The most parts of country bear clear sky (except some part of southern Oman) with annual average sunshine duration of 3708 hours per year [4]. C. Concentrating Solar power(CSP) Suitable land availability and the direct solar radiation are the main essentialities for the CSP based power generation. These 2 factors are abundant in sultanate.CSP based on the troughs or tower concepts can be an option in Oman. Sultanate of Oman is blessed with a higher insolation rate of more than 4.5 to 6.1 kWh/m 2 /day for autonomy of 342 days throughout the year. D. RETSCREEN 4 for feasibility analysis RETScreen 4 is Canadian software which holds a complete database for any location in the world, optimised for using the best available data at each location from about 20 sources, the main ones being the WRDC and the NASA irradiance data. NASA and WRDC data are available free of cost. RETScreen International is a clean energy awareness, decision- support and capacity building tool. The core of the tool consists of standardised and integrated clean energy project analysis software that can be used world-wide to evaluate the energy production, life-cycle costs and greenhouse gas emission reductions for various types of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies (RETs). In this paper the feasibility analysis of 5MW Photovoltaic & CSP based power Generation in Oman are compared. International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) ISSN: 2278-0181 Published by, www.ijert.org SETS - 2018 Conference Proceedings Volume 6, Issue 09 Special Issue - 2018