The first Czech-Oman Energy Workshop in Muscat
October 17, 2018
Czech-Oman Business Council in cooperation with Awtad Energy hosted the first Czech-Oman Energy Workshop, 16th October in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. The main topics of the workshop were liberalization of the Czech energy market, managing power losses in the distribution network, an insight into Smart meters solutions and Business Intelligence reporting in the energy sector.
"I am very proud of such an achievement for our council and I feel we're heading right direction when it comes to creating an engaging and successful business networking platform. We have welcomed around 50 guests across governmental and semi-governmental entities at the workshop, says Pavel Ohnoutka, Managing Director of the Czech-Oman Business Council and he ads: "We were also very pleased to invite Mr. Jiri Slavik, the Czech Ambassador of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, and Yemen as the guest of honour at the event and we would like to congratulate him to opening the first Czech Republic Consulate in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman."
Speaking about the current situation in the Czech Republic, Dr. Jiri Gavor, President of the Governmental Committee on Sustainable Energy Development, said, "Despite being a small country, our gross domestic product (GDP) is growing at a rate of 4%, while our neighboring countries are growing at 2%." In his presentation, Gavor explained that while spot (day ahead) markets are necessary as a baseline, where a service is bought for immediate consumption, derivatives in an open market need to exist in order to bring competitive advantages to the market. This way, companies can diversify their offers based on the time-scale and not just prices. "Liberalisation of the market should be gradual and we began with a directive in 2003 with the legal unbundling of production, distribution, and trade, and all customers had a choice of suppliers by 2006," he added.
Ahmed Al Naddabi, a consultant for Awtad Energy, said, "We would like to see a system in Oman where if you are unhappy with your service provider, you can change it as easy as changing your mobile company. We decided on the Czech model for this workshop because of how advanced the country is in the field of liberalising the electricity sector," he added.
Said Salim Al Mashani, Manager of Customer Affairs and currently Acting Director of Supply at Dhofar Power Company (DPC), said: "We are currently the primary supplier of power in Dhofar. It is very likely to see competition in the market in the near future, at least in terms of supplying power to customers. We believe that competition is healthy in not only changing the tariffs, but also pushing up the quality of service and improving customer services and experience as it's going to be a major competitive advantage to attract or retain customers. We are also extremely interested in smart meters," he added.
Technological advances come hand in hand with market liberalisation and price reduction, according to Gavor.
"Lithium-ion battery prices keep on falling, and they decreased by 24% between 2016 and 2017. At the same time, gross electricity generation from renewables increases, particularly biogas and biomass energy in our country. They are at 13% of national gross consumption. This encourages competition and more companies to enter the market," he added.
Mr. Gavor also said, "The Czech Republic is a big exporter of energy, perhaps the biggest in Europe, in per capita capacity, and the safety of our system is excellent and we have had no blackouts so far."
The following sessions were presented at the event from the Czech Republic's most renowned energy sector specialists:
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Experience of the Czech in Liberalization of Energy Sector and Competition by Jiri Gavor - Founder and Owner of ENA
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Power loss Solutions in Electricity and Distribution Networks by Miroslav Vrba - Chairman of the Czech Energy Committee.
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Smart Meter Solutions presentation by Ales Mikula, ZPA Smart Energy.
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Business Intelligence Solutions by Pavel Ohnoutka, MD of Stratox Enterprises.
Our event in local newspapers:
