- The projects are expected to provide over 750,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually.
- These developments will require an installed capacity of approximately 15GW of renewable energy, with total expected investments projected at around $20 billion (including shared infrastructure).
The Sultanate of Oman is just days away from announcing the winner of its first green hydrogen block offered to international developers in a competitive auction process overseen by Hydrom, the country’s independent orchestrator for this emerging sector. The revelation came in a keynote address by Eng Salim bin Nasser al Aufi, Oman’s Minister of Energy and Minerals, at the World Hydrogen Summit, which concluded in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam on Thursday.
The land blocks, each covering an area of around 320 sq kilometres and located in Duqm in Al Wusta Governorate, were offered for development as part of Round 1 of Phase A of Hydrom’s multi-year auction programme. The winning consortiums are expected to develop integrated projects covering the whole green hydrogen value chain, encompassing solar and wind farms (upstream), production of green hydrogen through electrolysis (midstream) and a green energy end-product comprising either hydrogen, ammonia or derivative for domestic consumption or export.
Separately, Hydrom had signed term sheets with several developers of green hydrogen projects dubbed ‘Legacy Initiatives’ because they were initiated before the issuance of a clear regulatory framework by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, the policy maker and regulator of the sector.
These agreements, initialled in March this year, pertain to 6 Legacy Projects located in the proximity of Duqm or Salalah ports: BP Alternative Energy Investments Limited (for a project in Duqm and another in Dhofar), Green Energy Oman (GEO), Green Hydrogen and Chemicals SPC (owned by ACME), Hyport Duqm consortium and SalalaH2 consortium.
These developments will require an installed capacity of approximately 15GW of renewable energy, with total expected investments projected at around $20 billion (including shared infrastructure). The projects are expected to provide over 750,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually, which would be further processed in local industries and into energy carriers for export.