Oman's Nama Group has announced the launch of the live operation of its centrally implemented Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) project designed for high value customers in the electricity sector across the sultanate.

The ground-breaking project was carried out by a professional team of Omani experts from the electricity distribution companies in Nama Group in partnership with Cesi Middle East, a subsidiary of leading technical consulting and engineering company Cesi, and Wipro as the system integrator, said the statement from Nama Group.

The AMR system is a central standard smart metering system that will enable electricity companies to obtain accurate, hourly meter readings from high value customers and collect their consumption in an automated manner, it added.

Nama Group CEO Engineer Omar Al Wahaibi said: "The AMR is another milestone in our continuous efforts to drive the electricity sector to enhance efficiencies, reduce electricity losses and provide better services to our customers."

"Moreover, this project sets a strong basis for providing more advanced services to our customers and helps us to be more effective in serving their needs in an efficient manner, in our quest to realise Nama’s vision of becoming a leading reference for utility service excellence by 2022," noted Al Wahabi.

Dr Mansoor Al Hinai, the VP Distribution at Nama, said this project will help the power sector implement its future vision of building Omani capabilities and put them at the forefront of leading technologies in the electricity industry.

"The project will also support the implementation of privatisation and electricity supply competition in line with the Oman Government’s vision. Cesi’s knowledge and experience was a key factor in embedding enhancements in systems, processes and employee capabilities, which not only secured the project’s success, but also helped create a long-lasting effect of improvement and efficiency in the sector," he added.

Cesi CEO Dr Matteo Codazzi said: "By tapping into its team’s extensive experience developed over tens of AMR projects implemented in Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East (for approximately 50 million customers), the Oman AMR project will successfully foster the creation of an advanced power sector in the country, and also help Nama realise their vision for utility service excellence and industry leadership amongst the GCC."

With a solid track record of experience in the Gulf, Cesi has helped develop and realise some of the biggest projects in the region, in partnership with local organisations.

"This AMR project is very significant for the development of the electricity sector in Oman, as accurate and precise meter readings prepares the sector for future advancements such as distributed rooftop solar generation, whereby solar energy is generated and consumed locally," remarked Dr Floris Schulze, the managing director, Cesi Middle East.

The Italy-based company has been present in Oman since 2012 working on a number of consultancy undertakings including the development of hybrid diesel/solar PV generation projects; assessing technical and economic feasibility of hybrid generation projects for power stations, he added.-TradeArabia News Service