MUSCAT: Nama Power & Water Procurement Company (Nama PWP), the sole buyer of power and water output in the Sultanate of Oman, has identified for procurement a new large-scale solar PV based Independent Power Project (IPP) with a launch date penciled in for 2029.
The proposed mega-scale venture, provisionally labelled ‘Solar PV IPPs 2029’, will boast an aggregate capacity of 1000 MW comprising of two IPPs of 500 MW apiece. The procurement strategy for the project will mirror the approach applied by PWP in the award recently of the Manah I & II Solar PV IPPs to two different consortiums each securing a 500 MW capacity share for simultaneous implementation at a site in the Wilayat of Manah.
“This project is a single procurement process, in which there will be separate single awards for each site, to different developers. Each project will have contracted maximum offtake capacity of around 500 MW using PV technology,” PWP stated in its newly published 7-Year Statement covering the electricity demand outlook for the 2023-2029 timeframe.
Significantly, ‘Solar PV IPPs 2029’ will be the sixth utility-scale soar PV project slated for implementation in Oman as part of PWP’s strategy to secure 30 per cent of the country’s power needs from renewables by 2030.
Preceding its procurement and implementation is ‘MIS Solar IPP 2027’ – a 500 MW utility-scale solar PV provisionally planned for development at a site within Al Wusta Governorate. Procurement activities related to this project – the fifth solar PV scheme in PWP’s renewable energy programme – will likely commence only in 2025, with commercial launch targeted during 2027.
The fourth in the series is ‘Ibri III Solar IPP’, a 500 MW scheme planned for development alongside Ibri II Solar IPP, which came into operation early in 2021. The latter – also a 500 MW project – is Oman’s first utility-scale solar PV scheme.
Rounding off the series are Manah I and Manah II Solar PV IPPs, which are currently under implementation at adjoining sites in Manah. Both schemes are scheduled for commercial launch in Q1 2025 and Q2 2025 respectively.
By 2029, generation capacity based on solar PV technology is projected to total around 3,500 MW. This capacity will be supplemented by an estimated 800 MW of wind-based generation – the aggregate of as many as five new wind farm projects planned in North Al Sharqiyah, Al Wusta and Dhofar Governorate.
Wind IPPs envisioned for procurement in the coming years include:
• Duqm Wind IPP: A 200-300 MW project planned in Duqm for launch in Q3 2026
• JBB Wind IPP: A 100 MW project to be developed in Jalaan Bani Bu Ali in North Al Sharqiyah Governorate and slated for launch in Q3 2026.
• Dhofar II Wind IPP: A 100 MW plant to be built at Harweel, close to Dhofar I Wind IPP launched in 2019.
• Ras Madrakah Wind IPP: A 200 – 300 MW scheme to be established about 60km from Duqm City with commercial operation set for 2027.
• Wind IPP 2029: A 200 MW scheme to be established in an area served by the Main Interconnected System (MIS) and planned for launch in 2029.
Taken together, Oman’s solar and wind based generation capacity is projected to rise to around 4,300 MW by 2029, with a further boost of around 140 MW coming from a proposed Waste to Energy (WTE) project due to come into operation at Barka in 2028.
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