Capacity

 

The capacity of a plant is defined as the total electrical power (in MW) and water (in m³/day), which can be delivered by the plant under specific environmental conditions (Reference Site Conditions). The contractual capacity of Sohar plant is 585 MW and 6,250 m³/hr, constant over the 15 years period of the PWPA.

Note:

• In 2015, Performance Test results on Natural Gas were derated due to HRSG#2 contamination issues. After repairs, an Additional Performance Test in July achieved guaranteed levels.  Performance Test on Fuel Oil was not conducted.  
• In 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, OPWP provided all generators with a waiver on having to conduct the Annual Performance Test on Fuel Oil, recognising the risk of additional manpower required for this test and the difficulty of maintaining social distancing.
• In 2021, SPC demonstrated its guaranteed power and water capacity on fuel gas as well as on fuel oil.

 

Availability

 

Availability is the amount of time the plant is technically capable of generating power and water as per specifications. Under the PWPA, Sohar plant shall be available for 100% of time in summer period; and 85% of the time for power and 87% of the time for water in the winter period.

 

The total power made available during 2021 was 4,729 GWh which works to an availability of 92%.  The total water made available during 2021 was 50,673,646 m³ which works to an availability of 92.3%.

 

Reliability

 

The reliability of the plant is the ability of the plant to deliver the declared availability, as per PWPA. Any failure to deliver the declared capacity will be treated as forced outage.  The objective of Sohar Power is to minimize these forced outages, in order to maximize its revenues. During 2021, the plant achieved reliability of 99.53% for power and 99.11% for water.

 

Plant Efficiency (Heat Rate)

 

The efficiency of the power plant is measured in terms of the amount of heat required to produce one unit of power.  

 

Utilization; Energy and Water Delivered

 

During the year 2021, the energy was delivered at a utilization factor of the power plant of 6.9%. The total water was delivered by the water plant at a utilization factor of 7.6%.

 

Evolution of statistics for power and water capacity made available by Sohar Power and amount delivered to the grid, since Commercial Operation Date of the Plant is depicted in the following charts.

Maintenance

 

Annual maintenance of all equipment was undertaken during the year. 

 

Other productivity and efficiency improvements to existing equipment, systems and processes have been implemented during the year and some others are being analysed, jointly with SOMC.

 

 

Force Majeure

 

1. Over the years, due to extraneous factors affecting its performance, SPC has raised Force Majeure claims on OPWP. The following have been agreed between OPWP and SPC to constitute Force Majeure events:

 

Sl. No.	Event	Year	Period	Affected facility	Equivalent hours
1.	Unavailability of Fuel	2006	12 days	Entire Plant	288
2.	Inability of OETC to withdraw power	2007	13 days	Entire Plant	312
3.	Rupture of seawater supply due to third party	2007	10 days	Entire Plant	240
4.	Cyclone Gonu	2007	June 06, 16:00 – June 07, 20:00	Entire Plant	28
5.	Red Tide	2009	Jan 03, 19:00 – Jan 05, 10:00 Jan 09, 00:00 – Jan 12, 19:00	Desalination Facility	99
6.	Red Tide	2009	Apr 11, 06:30 – Apr 16, 06:30	Desalination Facility	107