Oman launches RFPs for 1GW solar plant
The Sultanate gets its transition to alternative energy underway, with plans for the nation’s largest solar installation
The Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) said it is sourcing requests for proposal (RFPs) from interested bidders to provide project management and supervisory consultancy services for its key solar PV projects: Manah I and Manah II.
The large-scale Manah independent power projects (IPP) is to be set up on a 15m sqm area within the Governorate of A’Dakhiliyah, and will jointly produce a total 1,000MW of power.
It is expected that over two million solar panels will be installed in these two stations, which will be the largest solar panel project for the sultanate. Oman has already declared that solar power should play a major role in its transition towards largely alternative energy sources by 2035, and notably, has already worked with a number of European solar power exponents to develop its conversion strategy and the technologies required to do so most efficiently.
In late February 2023, Baynouna Solar Energy Company opened Jordan’s largest clean energy project and, in early March 2023, ALEC Energy partnered with Solar Earth to bring pavement integrated photovoltaic solution to the GCC.
OPWP, a member of Nama Group, is responsible for procuring new capacity for power and water in the sultanate in accordance with the provisions of the law for the Regulation and Privatisation of the electricity and related water sector, as promulgated by Royal Decree 78/2004.
In its tender notification, OPWP said the winning consultant will provide PMC and supervisory consultancy services for the key renewable project during its construction, commissioning and testing phase.
According to OPWP, work on these two stations will kick off in Q3 this year and the entire project is due for commercial operations by mid-2025. The deadline for submitting the tenders has been set for 11 June 2023.
In late April 2023, Big Project Middle East announced its 2023 Energy & Sustainability Summit will take place at the Habtoor Grand Resort on 23 May.