Oman has begun commercial operations of its independent power project (IPP), located in Amin at the south of the Block 6 license of Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), it has been announced.

According to a report by Oman Observer, the project will feature 336,00 solar panels and will have a capacity of 105MWac. The project is also the Sultanate’s first utility-scale photovoltaic scheme, it added.

PDO has been a global pioneer in the use of solar energy to generate steam necessary for its Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) operations. To this end, PDO is overseeing the implementation of the 1gigawatt Miraah project, which will harness solar energy to produce heavy oil from the Amal oilfield instead of natural gas for steam generation.

The Amin solar farm came on stream earlier this week, after several weeks of performance testing and commissioning, the report said, citing a senior official. In January this year, the developer the project, Amin Renewable Energy Company (AREC) was awarded a generation license (renewable energy) by the Authority for Electricity Regulation, Oman.

The Muscat-based AREC is a consortium led by the Japanese-based international conglomerate, Marubeni Corporation, with key partners including Oman Gas Company, Bahwan Renewable Energy Company and Nebras.

In January 2019, AREC was awarded a contract to develop, finance, build, operate and maintain what is being billed as the world’s first utility-scale solar project, with an oil and gas company as the off-taker of its electricity output, the report added.