Future Fund Oman (FFO) has announced US$1.7 billion in financing for 105 projects and investments across a number of sectors, including plans to build 6GW of new annual solar cell manufacturing capacity, alongside 3GW of new module production capacity.
FFO is a part of the Oman Investment Authority (OIA), within Oman’s sovereign wealth fund, and the latest round of investment was announced this week at the FFO investment showcase. The money will be invested in local firm Orion Solar, and while the OIA did not specify how much of the US$1.7 billion would go towards the company, it described the investment as the “flagship” investment among a number of “internationally significant” supply chain investments.
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Orion Solar will use the funds to build the solar cell and module manufacturing facility in the SOHAR Port and Freezone in northern Oman. Other investments announced this week include funding for the Gallant Industrial Project, which will produce 66,000 tonnes a year of lithium-iron phosphate cathode material, which is used in electric vehicle batteries, as Oman looks to expand its clean energy manufacturing sector.
“This portfolio directs capital toward nationally prioritised sectors and strengthens Oman’s appeal to global investors,” said his excellency Mulham Al Jarf, deputy president of investment at the OIA.
The news follows a number of investments made into the Omani solar sector, including US-based United Solar securing finance for a 40GW polysilicon facility to be built in the country and the Omani government’s involvement in a 500MW solar-plus-storage in Botswana. United Solar executives noted that the company’s facility in Oman will enable a polysilicon supply chain compliant with US government foreign entity of concern (FEOC) rules.
The latest round of OIA funding, however, focuses on domestic manufacturing of components required for the solar industry, as Oman looks to strengthen its solar component supply chains. The news follows the installation of a new 400MW module production facility in the Salalah Free Zone by Italian company Ecoprogetti last December.
The latest OIA investment is the latest example of a country looking to expand its domestic solar manufacturing work in order to secure its supply chains. Already this year, the US has seen a plethora of new manufacturing capacity added and announced, for both cells and modules, while India has sought to expand its own domestic manufacturing capacity.
