Global law firm Clifford Chance said it had played a major advisory role for the major lenders - Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim), Société General and Bank Muscat - with regard to the 500 MW Manah Solar Project in Oman.
The project was awarded to a consortium of South Korea’s Korea Western Power Company (Kowepo) and France’s EDF-Renewables by Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis.
The project is one of two grid-connected solar projects each of around 500 MW, that will be built side-by-side at Manah region of the sultanate.
Together, the twin schemes will boost Oman’s renewable energy capacity by roughly 200% to around 1550 MW, up from around 550 MW presently.
According to OPWP, the consortium will be responsible for the design, finance, construction and operation of the Manah plant located in the Al Dakhiliyah Governorate, 175 km south of Muscat.
The plant will begin commercial operation during the first quarter of 2025.
Once commissioned, the Manah 1 project will able to power more than 50,000 Omani households providing clean energy, while offsetting over 700,000 metric tonnes of CO2 per year.
Buoyed by these projects, Oman is targeting a roughly 40% contribution from renewables to its electricity requirements by 2040.
One of the world's pre-eminent law firms with significant depth and range of resources across five continents, Clifford Chance's team was led by Abu Dhabi partner Richard Parris, with support from a core team in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and London.
These included partners Mohamed Hamra-Krouha and Inaamul Laher, senior associates Greg Jehle, Georgina Roest and Paul Langley, associates Duaa Abbas and Leo Faingata’a and trainee solicitor Mehran Azzam (for Abu Dhabi and Dubai) and Anne Drakeford, senior associate Tracy Poon and trainee solicitor Hannah McLellan (London).
