Hasan bin Tabith Mosque in the Wilayat of Seeb is all set to be the first mosque in the Sultanate to run on solar power.
The project is part of the “Green Mosque” renewable energy programme launched by Amana Waqf Funds Management Company, in cooperation with the Authority for Public Services Regulation (APSR), energy companies and Islamic financial institutions.
The project, which reduces electricity consumption and operational costs, comes in line with the directives of Oman Vision 2040 to achieve around 30 per cent of the Sultanate’s energy needs from renewable sources.
The Sultanate has 16,464 mosques of various sizes, according to a statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) in 2019.
“This programme will contribute in supporting the Sultanate’s plans towards promoting renewable energy,” said Dr Mansour bin Talib al Hinai, Chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Authority (APSR).
“Green Mosque initiative is highly practical as well as economically viable as the cost of these technologies continues to decrease while increasing their effectiveness,” he said.
The pilot phase of the Green Mosque programme was launched in November 2020.
Later, it has been decided to expand to cover 100 more mosques through three packages over 3 years with an investment of RO 5 million, part of which is also allocated to projects of technologies to rationalise consumption, in addition to generating electricity from renewable sources.
“This project represents the first investment of the endowment trust based on the approach of partnership and cooperation with the private sector to serve the endowment organisation and its investments,” said Yousef bin Ali al Harthy, CEO of Amanah.
It is expected that mosques will achieve immediate savings in bills, provided that the solar energy systems will be owned by the mosques at the end of the agreed investment period.
