Move to make electric car-friendly

The announcement came at a briefing hosted by the regulator to present its ‘Forward Work Programme’ for the year.

It features a substantive agenda that includes plans for, among other things, the development of a competitive market, deployment of residential PV (Sahim initiative), establishment of an ESCos market, a waste-to-energy project, assessment of Cost Reflective Tariffs, and enforcement of cyber security standards.

The rapid embrace of electric vehicles elsewhere around the world, coupled with the pace of technological advancements in this sector, was behind the authority’s decision to initiate the groundwork for the eventual rollout of this eco-friendly mode of transportation in Oman, the executive director noted. “We have been faced with a number of requests with regard to electric vehicles, and this coincides with our overall goal of promoting sustainability of energy use — whether with regard to electricity use, transportation, or renewables development,” Al Zakwani said.

“We want to see what we can do to facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles in Oman in a safe and efficient manner within the electricity sector. This may possibly require changes to the way we plan our networks, the way we license the entities setting up charging stations, and so on. So a number of facets need to be looked at,” he added.

A strategy for developing the required regulations, standards and other requirements is due to be unveiled by the third quarter of this year.