RFQ for first solar PV project in Oman

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Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), a member of Nama Group, has released a Request For Qualifications for a 500 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant. This is the first large utility scale solar photovoltaic independent power project to be developed in Oman.

The plant will be located at Ibri, a city in the north-west of the country, 300km west of the capital Muscat. It will be built, owned and operated by the private sector, with the successful bidder being responsible for financing, procurement, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance of a new power plant, with generation capacity of 500 MW.

The estimated project cost is approximately US$500 million.

The RFQ documents are available to purchase until 18 January 2018, while the submission deadline is February 22 2018. For more information, see the Business Opportunity.

The plant will supply an estimated 33,000 homes with electricity and offset 340,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

OPWP plan to award the project in the second half of quarter four of 2018. The plant is to be commercially operational by early 2021.

This tender is part of a clear drive to realise Oman’s vision of diversifying fuel sources through the use of clean energy for power generation. The Public Authority for Electricity and Water (Diam) recently completed a wind Atlas for the country. OPWP plan to use that to carry out a detailed Wind Resources Assessment (WRA). This will pave the way to develop wind projects in the locations determined in the WRA.

Also, in coordination with the Authority for Electricity Regulation and the Environmental Service Holding Company (Beah), OPWP intends to commence preparatory work to assess the possibility of procuring waste to energy projects. This will build on the considerable work undertaken by Beah with regards to waste to energy and establish a framework to facilitate the implementation of such projects in the future, including the project definition and competition process.

Overall, Oman targets a 10% renewable energy share by 2025.