Oman to Award Solar Energy Projects of $777 Mn for Country’s Largest Solar Panel Project

Oman to award mega solar projects

Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP),  responsible for purchasing power and water for all IPP/IWPP projects within the Sultanate of Oman, will soon award solar energy projects to international investors. These projects are worth $777 million and have secured approvals from the Authority for Public Services Regulation (APSR)- which looks after electrcitiy regulation.

The projects in question, Manah 1 and 2, will together produce 1,000 MW cumulatvely and will be established on a 15 million sq m area within the Governorate of A’Dakhiliyah. The largest solar panel project for Oman will see the installation of close to 2 million solar panels.

The said two stations are the second project that will be floated by OPWP aimed at the purchase of generating capacity by renewable energy. Construction of the projects will kickstart in the third quarter of 2023 while the commercial operations will commence by the middle of 2025.

Towards the end of 2022, Oman Power and Water Procurement Company had come up with a tender to select the independent power producers (IPPs) for the development of a 500 Megawatt solar energy park. The project has been named ‘Ibri III Solar IPP Project.’

The Omani Government has planned to add about 4 GW of renewables capacity by the end of this decade. The new regulation for rooftop PV, besides utility scale solar projects, that was announced in 2018 by the government would also help in achieving the renewables target. The target is to have at least 10 per cent of Oman’s electricity coming from renewable sources by 2025 and subsequently raising it to 39 per cent by 2040.