Switch-on heralds a brighter future

RAS AL KHAIMAH // The electricity shortages that have plagued the emirate in recent years, hampering development and causing frequent blackouts, are expected to be considerably eased next week when a 84-megawatt gas-fired power plant goes into production.

The plant in Al Ghail, set up by Ras al Khaimah Investment Authority (Rakia), is now connected to the industrial park grid and will begin full-scale production within days. In addition, the gas-fired Al Hamra 1 power plant, which opened last month, will double its production next week to 45 megawatts, supplying Al Hamra Industrial Zone, the Rakia Free Zone and residences at Al Hamra Village and Al Hamra Mall, in the west of the emirate. The cost of the two plants is estimated at US$130 million (Dh478m).

Energy shortages have been a serious obstacle to growth in RAK. Some industrial and residential projects have waited months to be connected to the federal grid and power cuts persist. The Dh200m Safeer Mall opened in December, a year and a half after being completed, having to rely on power from a Dh5.4m (US$1.47m) generator. Wassim Antar, 26, a human resources officer who grew up in the emirate, says residents and businesses alike have suffered from the electricity shortages: "Last summer there were power cuts at least once a week. They cut the power from my area for three straight days and they never give notice. Suddenly everything just goes off.

"If they manage it well it will hopefully get better. Mostly it will be affecting the industrial areas because they need it more. The new industrial area in Al Hamra hasn't had electricity." The new stations are part of a long-term government energy plan. "Rakia is making sincere efforts to enhance the emirate's proven competitiveness in the industrial and manufacturing sectors by developing self-sufficiency in power and water supplies," said Zakkir Hussain, an adviser to Rakia.

"The two plants will contribute an additional 130-megawatt capacity to the emirate and Rakia is on track to meet its promise of providing reliable power and water availability to all investors." Mr Hussain said tendering for the 120-megawatt Al Hamra 2 power plant was its in final stages; it would be ready to supply energy within the next year. A feasibility study for the first phase of the coal-fired Mina Saqr power plant, which could eventually provide up to 3,000 megawatts, was also nearing completion.

Rakia has outlined plans to open a total of four power plants in the next three years to meet electricity demands. Mr Hussain said the location and type of Rakia's fourth plant was yet to be decided. In a report published last year the Oxford Business Group, a publishing, research and consultancy organisation, identified electricity shortages as the biggest obstacle to economic growth in the emirate. It also said the emirate's only productive gas field was "no longer commercially viable" with a production level of 100 barrels per day of condensate.

The RAK Gas Commission will supply gas for the Al Ghail and Al Hamra 1 power plants from the Atlantis offshore field in Umm al Qaiwain. In February, Rakgas gained concessions with the offshore field of West Bukha, shared by Oman and Iran. Abu Dhabi's Dolphin Energy also supplies gas from Qatar on an intermittent basis. The search for cheap energy to meet the emirate's increasing demands has driven the RAK government to invest heavily in Indonesia's coal infrastructure.

It was awarded a licence for the construction and operation of a 150km rail network and coal jetty in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province by the Regency of East Kutai. The project is expected to be completed by 2012. azacharias@thenational.ae