Story Highlights
1. Installed capacity of 50MW
2. Will account for 7% of electricity in the Dhofar Governorate
3. Will displace 110,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year
4. Will power 16,000 homes
From Our Correspondent
MUSCAT: A major wind farm under construction in Dhofar will be operational by the third quarter of this year and when online, it will power 16,000 homes, which will account for 7 per cent of electricity in the Dhofar Governorate, a statement from the project office said.
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The 50-megawatt (MW) Dhofar Wind Farm is the Gulf Cooperation Council’s first utility-scale wind farm which is fully funded by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD).
According to the developers, the wind farm will displace 110,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
The project is being implemented by Masdar on behalf of ADFD, through an EPC consortium of GE Renewable Energy and TSK.
Recently, a senior delegation of government and business dignitaries has witnessed first-hand the steady progress being made in the development of Wind Farm.
Construction began in the first quarter of 2018. Four of the project’s 13 wind turbines have now been installed, and virtually all of the project’s infrastructure has been completed.
Oman is very rich in renewable energy resources and OPWP is determined to exploit the learnings from this project, and its previous IPP experience, to expedite energy generation from such resources
Eng Yaqoob Alkyumi, CEO, Oman Power and Water Procurement Company
The remaining wind turbines will be in place by the end of March, before being connected to the grid. Project handover is scheduled for Q3 2019.
“Oman is very rich in renewable energy resources and OPWP is determined to exploit the learnings from this project, and its previous IPP experience, to expedite energy generation from such resources,” Eng Yaqoob Alkyumi, CEO of the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), said.
OPWP will be the off-taker, or purchaser of the generated power, from the Rural Areas Electricity Company of Oman (Tanweer), which is responsible for operating the wind power plant upon completion.
GE Renewable Energy is providing the project’s 3.8MW wind turbines that are tailor-made for hot and arid desert conditions, while TSK is responsible for the remainder of the wind farm’s infrastructure and electrical transmission facilities connecting the plant to the grid.
Power demand in the Dhofar Governorate, the largest of Oman’s 11 Governorates, is growing at around 10 per cent annually. Besides helping to meet this demand, the Dhofar Wind farm will offset an estimated 110,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, while reducing reliance on natural gas for domestic power generation.
