Enertis has stepped up its involvement with a solar project in the Middle East, said to be the world’s first utility-scale scheme to be wholly sponsored by an oil and gas major.
On Thursday, the consultancy said it has landed a contract as the owner’s engineer for the 100MW Amin PV plant in Oman, under development by a Japanese-Omani consortium.
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The project planned in the Sultanate’s southwest was commissioned last year by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), with a view to become the sole offtaker once Amin was up and running.
The group – Oman’s top oil and gas exploration and production firm – started taking in bids from developers in January 2018, going on to pick the winners nine months later.
The consortium chosen for a 23-year PPA was led by Marubeni Corporation, including also Oman Gas Company, Bahwan Renewable Energy Company and Modern Channels Services.
Enertis’ inking of an engineer contract emerges as Amin progresses through construction, with a target for the 100MW solar project to launch commercially in May 2020.
The consultancy, servicing renewable projects worldwide from headquarters in Spain, Chile and the US, has already carried out design-stage work for the Omani solar scheme.
In its statement on Wednesday, the firm explained it will “interface the relationship” between Amin’s development company and the EPC contractor.
“Specifically, Enertis is leading and monitoring every technical-related aspect, especially focusing on the approval of the detail design for the project,” the firm said, adding that it has also deployed teams on site to monitor the construction process.
Amin’s sponsors have billed the project as the first utility-scale solar venture ever to be witnessed in Oman, a country with several other major PV initiatives in the works.
The Sultanate wants to add 5GW solar capacity by late 2024 and has launched various tenders – a 500MW batch won by a ACWA-led consortium, plus a more recent 1.1GW push – to that very end.