Oman plans 1.2GW wind schemes
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Oman’s Nama Power & Water Procurement Company (PWP) has announced plans to procure five wind power stations with a combined capacity of 1,171MW.
The planned schemes and their capacities are:
- Dhofar 2: 132 MW
- Sadah: 99MW
- Duqm: 270MW
- Mahut: 400MW
- Jaalan Bani Bu Ali: 270MW
These projects are expected to be implemented by 2027 to help the sultanate achieve its target for renewable energy to account for 30% of its overall electricity production mix by 2030.
Longer-term, Oman aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The new projects significantly increase the current pipeline of wind projects in the sultanate.
Nama PWP, previously known as Oman Power & Water Procurement Company (OPWP), recently appointed a team of consultants for its planned wind independent power producer (IPP) projects.
The state offtaker’s transaction advisory team comprises KPMG Lower Gulf as financial adviser, UK/US-headquartered Dentons as legal adviser and Australia’s Worley as technical adviser.
Previous plan
The latest announcement overrides an earlier plan for Oman to procure three wind independent power projects, as indicated by the company’s previously published Seven-Year Statement for 2022-28.
That document, published early last year, indicated plans to start the procurement process for three wind power generation plants, a utility-scale solar power plant and a waste-to-energy facility.
The first wind IPP, which is located in Jalaan Bani Bu Ali in Oman’s Sharqiyah governorate, had a planned capacity of 100MW at the time of the publication of the Seven-Year Statement. This has now been increased to 270MW.
According to OPWP’s 2022-28 statement, the plant is expected to come online in 2025 and will cater to the Main Interconnected System, the sultanate’s largest electricity grid.
The second planned wind IPP will cater to the Duqm Power System and was planned to have a design capacity of 100MW. This wind farm’s capacity has also been increased to 270MW.
A third wind IPP is planned for the Dhofar Power System. Its capacity has been set at 132MW.
Renewable energy, mainly derived from solar photovoltaic power plants, accounted for an estimated 6% of Oman’s electricity production capacity as of 2023.
