ILF Consulting Engineers from Austria has secured a contract for consulting and engineering services for the first wind power plant to come up in Dhofar, Oman.
According to the contract, approximately 25 turbines will be installed at the site, with a capacity to generate 50 MW of power.
The value of the project is estimated to be $125 million.
Located at Harweel in Dhofar, the project is expected to go operational by May 2017.
The wind farm will be jointly developed by Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, and Rural Areas Electricity Company (Raeco) of Oman.
Besides, the facility will be run by Raeco three years after delivery.
As part of this, Masdar and Raeco are planning to develop a 132 kv overhead transmission line in Harweel.
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This is the first large-scale wind project in the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) region.
On completion, the plant will be able to provide power for nearly 16,000 houses in the region.
Further, it is estimated that the project will neutralize around 110,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Moreover, the farm will meet half of the Dhofar region’s energy needs during the winter. It will also reduce country’s reliance on traditional forms of energy, such as gas, which can be redirected toward more valuable industrial uses, while also extending the life of our hydrocarbon reserves, noted, Hamed Al Magdheri, CEO, Raeco.
The region is rapidly adopting renewable energy as a viable solution to meet growing electricity demands and to address long-term resource security, stated, Sultan bin Ahmed Sultan Al Jaber, state minister, chairman, Masdar.
Over the next five years, regional investment in solar, wind and nuclear energy is expected to reach $100 billion.
Last month, Masdar bought into the consortium for the completion of 402 MW Dudgeon Wind Farm project in UK, paying £500 million pounds. In addition, it is developing a 117 MW Tafila onshore wind farm in Jordan.
Sabeena Wahid
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