Through a new procuremente exercise, the Oman Power and Water Procurement company (OPWP) is now seeking developers for the Manah Solar I IPP and Manah Solar II IPP projects with a capacity of 500 MW and 600 MW, respectively. Both plants will be located at Manah which is around 150 km southwest of Muscat. Image: Fransoopatrick/Pixabay The Oman Power and Water Procurement company (OPWP) has issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the development of two independent solar power projects with a combined capacity of 1.1 GW. Through this new tender, the company, which is a unit of Oman’s a state-owned conglomerate engaged in production, procurement, distribution and transmission of electricity, is seeking to contract developers for the Manah Solar I IPP and Manah Solar II IPP projects, which are planned to have a capacity of 500 MW and 600 MW, respectively. Both plants will be located near the town of Manah, which is approximately 150 km southwest from Muscat. “The Projects [are] each to be developed as a private sector project by appropriately qualified developers,” the company stated in its release. Oman’s solar plans Bidders will have until August 26 to pre-qualify for the tender. The two projects are part of the country’s strategy to install approximately 2 GW of solar power by 2024. Two 500 MW solar projects had been previously tendered by the OPWP. One project will be located in Ibri, around 300 km west from Muscat, while the second project is planned for an unspecified location. All these projects feed into Oman’s government plan to add 4 GW of renewable generation capacity by 2030. Beyond utility scale project development, this target will also be supported through the new regulation for rooftop PV, which was announced in 2018. Emiliano joined pv magazine in March 2017. He has been reporting on solar and renewable energy since 2009. More articles from Emiliano Bellini
Oman Power and Water Procurement has launched a tender for the 500 MW Manah Solar I and 600 MW Manah Solar II independent power projects. The pre-qualification bid deadline is 2024. The schemes are part of Oman's goal of installing around 2 GW of solar power by 26 August and 4 GW of renewable generation capacity by 2030.