OPAL (Oman Society for Petroleum Services) has partnered with RTITB to deliver the Oman National Occupational Standard Project for Lifting Operations Training and Skill Certification assessment scheme

The Ministry of Labour has issued a license for OPAL to establish a first-of-its-kind Sector Skills Unit (SSU) for the energy and minerals sector in Oman. Through this, OPAL is aiming to further promote standards of work, and increase competencies and professionalism among those operating plant and materials handling equipment among its more than 450 members. As part of the new assessment scheme, a competency card will be issued for lifting operators based on their skill level, in line with standards set by RTITB, a leading workplace transport training accrediting body based in the UK. The standards have been specifically designed for the new scheme to help make measurable improvements to safety, while reducing risk and increasing efficiency.

Competency cards will be issued electronically by RTITB, which will now be one of OPAL’s recognised Lifting Operation International Awarding Bodies. Red cards will be issued to candidates who have completed training and are undergoing On the Job Training (OJT), and blue cards will be given to competent operators. Only operators who have received the competency card will be able to work for OPAL members. RTITB aims to help OPAL to improve the standards and skills of operators and increase safety in its members’ operations at the same time.

“By setting national and international standards for training and assessment, RTITB is dedicated to improving safety in lifting operations worldwide,” said Laura Nelson, managing director for RTITB, who recently visited Oman to officially sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the new collaboration with OPAL.  

QatarEnergy has launched Tawteen In-Country Value Digital Portal as part of Tawteen’s efforts to enhance the localisation of services and industries in Qatar’s energy sector 

ACWA Power, a leading developer, investor and operator of power generation, desalinated water and green hydrogen plants, along with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia’s foremost education and research institution, hosted ‘Innovation Days 2022’ which took place between 23- 24 March 2022

The conference followed a close alliance between the two institutions, which have jointly operated the KAUST- ACWA Power Centre of Excellence for Desalination and Solar Power, a research and development (R&D) hub, since 2019.

The partnership with KAUST, which is one of the Kingdom’s leading innovation hubs, has enabled both parties to pursue industry-oriented research to achieve further efficiencies in producing desalinated water and generating solar power responsibly, reliably and at the lowest possible cost.

“Innovation Days” is a new platform that hosts leading business executives, innovators, researchers and academics from Saudi Arabia and across the world to showcase their expertise in solar energy, green hydrogen, artificial intelligence (AI) and seawater desalination. 

Paddy Padmanathan, vice chairman and CEO at ACWA Power, "As a company that is driving the energy transition globally, innovation lies at the heart of our growth and development strategy. We are constantly pursuing new solutions to address global power and water needs. It is imperative that we engage with the local Innovation Ecosystem including academics and researchers to integrate their work out into our facilities. With KAUST, we have built a close partnership that has already borne fruit via a dynamic research hub. And now, we hope that the dialogue around Innovation Days inspired everyone in the industry to collaborate in creating tangible solutions to realise a greener future."

 ACWA Power is currently collaborating with KAUST on projects for disruptive hydrogen electrolyser technologies, which significantly reduce energy consumption, as well as highly efficient bifacial photovoltaic panels in their solar plants.

"KAUST seeks to address the critical global challenges across energy, water, environment, food and health, and the digital realm, through the research activities of our excellent faculty and staff and supported by the outstanding facilities in our research centers and core laboratories. We work closely with partners in the kingdom, including the Ministries, NEOM and leading companies and we are delighted to count organisations of the calibre of ACWA Power among our excellent collaborators. The Innovation Days event with ACWA Power offers an exciting forum to support the development of technologies that can help solve local and global needs and we look forward to many future versions of this exciting new event, concluded professor Donal Bradley, vice-president for research at KAUST"

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ENOWA, the energy, water and hydrogen subsidiary of NEOM, has established a Hydrogen and Innovation Development Center (HIDC) in NEOM’s advanced manufacturing and innovation city