OPWP announces award of solar power project in Oman

MUSCAT, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Oman power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), a member of governmnet-owned Nama Group, on Thursday announced the award of the Ibri II Solar Independent power Project.

Salim Al Aufi, undersecretary of Oman's Ministry of Oil and Gas, said that sustainability is at the forefront as Oman embarks on the development of renewable energy projects and the pipeline will benefit current and future generations.

OPWP received proposals from three bidders, including a consortium led by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC (Masdar), a consortium led by Marubeni Corporation, and a consortium led by Acwa power.

The conditionally winning consortium, comprising Saudi-based Acwa power, Kuwait-based Gulf Investment Corporation and Kuwait-based Alternative Energy Projects Co, was selected following a detailed financial, technical and legal evaluation of bid proposals.

The project will be located at Ibri, 300 km west of Muscat. With a peak generation capacity of 500 MW, the plant output will be enough to supply an estimated 33,000 homes with electricity and will offset 340,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

The estimated project cost is over 400 million U.S. dollars and will be commercially operational by June 2021.