Oman has begun commercial operation of its independent power project (IPP) located at Amin in the south of the Block 6 licence of Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), said a report.
Featuring 336,000 solar panels, the sultanate's first utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) scheme, boasts a 105 MWac capacity, according to the Oman Observer.
PDO is a global pioneer in the use of solar energy to generate steam necessary for its Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) operations. To this end, PDO is overseeing the implementation of a 1-gigawatt Miraah project that harnesses solar energy to produce heavy oil from the Amal oilfield instead of natural gas for steam generation.
The Amin solar farm came on stream earlier this week after several weeks of performance testing and commissioning, stated the report citing a senior official.
This comes following the award of a generation licence (renewable energy) by the Authority for Electricity Regulation, Oman to the developer, Amin Renewable Energy Company (Arec), in January this year.
Muscat-based Arec is a consortium led by the Japanese-based international conglomerate Marubeni Corporation with key partners including Oman Gas Company, Bahwan Renewable Energy Company and Nebras.
In January last year, AREC had been awarded the contract to “develop, finance, build, operate and maintain” what is billed as the world’s first utility-scale solar project with an oil and gas company as the offtaker of its electricity output, it added.
