Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) announced that it has awarded a contract to build a landmark 100 megawatt solar photovoltaic plant, which is part of an Independent Power Producer (IPP) project, to a joint Japanese-Omani consortium.

The Marubeni Consortium, comprising the Marubeni Corporation (Japan) as the lead founder, Oman Gas Company, Bahwan Renewable Energy Company and Modern Channels Services, won the bidding process, which attracted competitive tenders from global developers in the renewable energy industry.

The plant will provide power for PDO’s interior operations and be the first of its type in Oman. It will also be the world’s first utility-scale solar project to have an oil and gas company as the sole wholesale buyer of electricity.

The project includes the design, procurement, construction, commissioning, financing, operation and maintenance of the solar photovoltaic plant, which will have a capacity of 100 megawatts.

The power will be structured as an IPP under the terms of the power purchase agreement for a period of 23 years.

The awarding ceremony will take place on November 7 at PDO’s Muscat headquarters.

Regarding the bidding, PDO Managing Director Raoul Restucci said, “We look forward to working with the Marubeni Corporation and consortium partners to build our first IPP renewable energy project, which is another building block in support of Oman’s outstanding potential in renewable energy.”

PDO has already ventured into solar energy with the giant Miraah solar plant in Amal, which it is developing with partners GlassPoint Solar to produce steam for thermal enhanced oil recovery.

PDO is also installing thousands of solar panels in car parks at its Mina Al Fahal headquarters to provide power to offices and to feed into the national grid during non-working hours.