PHOTOVOLTAIC ELECTRICITY PROSPECTS IN OMAN

Although considerable progress has been achieved in supplying electric ity to most parts of Oman, due to its population dispersion, economic constraints and the short duration of the national electrification-pro gramme to date (i.e. less than 30 years), there are still some locatio ns without this desirable service. Electricity is the premium form of energy, because it is clean, as well as being flexible and highly effi cient at its point-of-use. The availability of the first few kilowatts of electricity to a previously non-electrified home greatly improves the quality of life for its inhabitants, far more so than any subseque nt equal increment of supplied power. For instance, this initial provi sion could energise artificial lighting, as well as a telephone, a TV. set, or a refrigerator and so enhance significantly the life-style qu ality of a household. Photovoltaic (PV) technology has already demonst rated its effectiveness and holds great promise for electricity genera tion but, at present, is a relatively high capital-cost process. Never theless, it provides an opportunity to generate electricity quietly vi a a semi-conductor system, using no rotating parts, and requiring no f ossil-fuel input because it depends on insolation and so emits no poll utants. Therefore, for some applications, e.g. railway signalling or b uoy illumination, it is, even now, in common usage world wide. PV-elec tricity generation tends to be more cost effective in the 'sun-belt' r egion from about 40 degrees N to 40 degrees S: Oman lies within this r egion, i.e. between 17 degrees N and 26 degrees N, and hence the prosp ects for its exploitation there on a large scale are good. (C) 1998 El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.