20 August 2017

Renewable energy company Masdar has signed a deal with a consortium including United States-based giant GE and Spain's TSK to build the first large-scale wind farm in Oman.

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract will see a 50MW wind power project being built in Dhofar - the biggest of Oman's 11 governates on its southern border with Yemen. It will provide enough power for 16,000 homes and offset 110,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

Masdar said that the project is the result of a joint development agreement signed in 2014 between it and Oman's Rural Areas Electricity Company (RAECO). The deal has received funding from the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD).

“Oman has immense untapped potential in renewable energy, particularly in solar and wind," said Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar. 

"Masdar is proud to be supporting the historically close ties between the UAE and the Sultanate. The Dhofar Wind Power project will play an important role in supporting the diversification of Oman’s energy mix, while providing a reliable source of clean power to serve its growing population and economy.”

Saleh Bin Nasser Al Rumhi, CEO of RAECO, added: “This project represents a fundamental shift in clean energy projects in the region and in the Sultanate in particular. It is the first project of its kind in the Gulf region .”

Masdar is involved with a number of major wind power projects, including the £1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) Dudgeon wind power project off the Norfolk coastline, the 630MW London Array scheme, the £210m Hywind floating wind farm scheme in Scotland, the 158MW Tesla wind farm in Serbia and the 113MW Tafila wind power scheme in Jordan.

GE is leading the EPC consortium building the Dhofar Wind Power project and will provide 13 wind turbines.

Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, the director-general of ADFD, said that when complete, the wind farm "will represent seven percent of the total installed power generation capacity in the Dhofar governorate, including its capital city Salalah".

“This 50 MW project will not only serve as a model of modern power generation but more importantly, demonstrate the commercial viability of wind technology in the Sultanate," he added.

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