Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), a state owned oil producer in Oman, has announced that it has allocated a 100 MW solar project to the Marubeni Consortium, a consortium comprising the Marubeni Corporation as the lead founder, Oman Gas Company S.A.O.C, Bahwan Renewable Energy Company LLC, and Modern Channels Services LLC. The consortium won the project through a bidding process which is said to have attracted competitive rates from global developers in the renewable energy industry.

The plant is expected to provide power for PDO’s interior operations. PDO claims the project will be the world’s first utility-scale solar project to have an oil and gas company as the sole wholesale buyer of electricity.

The project includes the design, procurement, construction, commissioning, financing, and operation and maintenance of the solar photo voltaic plant with a capacity of 100 MW. The installation will be located at Amin which lies in southern Oman in PDO’s concession area, approximately 210 kilometres north west of Thumrait. The project will be structured under the IPP mode having a power purchase agreement for a period of 23 years.

PDO Managing Director Raoul Restucci said: “We look forward to working with the Marubeni Corporation and consortium partners to build our first IPP renewable energy project and as another building block in support of Oman’s outstanding potential in renewable energy.”

PDO had announced its venture into solar segment with the Miraah solar plant in Amal which it is developing with partners GlassPoint Solar to produce steam for thermal enhanced oil recovery. PDO is also installing solar in car parks at its headquarters to power key offices and feed into the national grid during non-working hours. In January 2018, Mercom reported on the news of PDO issuing this solar tender.