15 major projects to drive power demand growth
MUSCAT, MAY 24
As many as 15 major private sector-led industrial and commercial projects will be plugged into Oman's national grid over the next couple of years, bolstering electricity demand by an aggregate 2,000 MW and driving a new phase of national economic growth.
According to Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC), the majority state-owned grid operator, the projects are distributed across the industrial, mineral processing, data center processing, water desalination, and oil and gas segments of the Omani economy.
Topping the list, by power demand size, is the $1.35 billion polysilicon production plant of United Solar Polysilicon (USP), which is currently in an advanced stage of development at Sohar Freezone. With maximum power demand estimated at 800 MW, the USP project will be the largest to be connected to the grid via a 400/220kV grid station during 2025, said OETC in its 2024 Annual Report.
Also notable are two major data hubs, each with a power demand of 200 MW, which will be connected to the grid this year. Salalah-based Green Data City, which operates the country's first license for sustainable crypto-mining, will be connected to the 132kV Ashoor grid station with installed capacity of 200 MW in 2025. In the second phase, the hub will be expanded to reach 400MW hyperscale data center capacity, along with associated downstream activities including renewable energy, hydrogen, sea-water A/C (SWAC), desalination, food industries and cosmetics, according to the promoters.
Exahertz, a blockchain based data centre also operating in Salalah, is also slated to be connected to 132kV Salalah Free Zone grid station in 2026 with an installed capacity of 200MW.
In 2027, the oilfield operations of Occidental of Oman (Oxy) will be connected to the grid, starting with planned hookups to the 132kV Wadi Latham grid station with installed capacity of 120 MW, followed by another connection to the 132kV Safah grid station with installed capacity of 65 MW.
Sohar Freezone, a major hub for heavy industry, will witness a number of linkages to the national grid during the course of this year. JA Solar, which is establishing a major solar PV module plant with an investment of RO 217.3 million, with be connected to the SFZ grid station in 2025 with an installed capacity of 88 MW, according to OETC.
Sanvera Carbon's prebaked anode production facility, a key ingredient in the aluminium smelting and mining sectors, will also be connected to the 132kV SFZ grid station in 2025 with generation capacity of 24 MW this year. This will be followed by the linkage of the smelter of Star Ferro Alloys to the same grid in Sohar Freezone next year, with an installed capacity of 18 MW.
Also slated for grid connection are the Duqm Cement plant (installed capacity of 29.95 MW) in 2026; Oman Cement to the 132kV Misfah grid station in 2027 with total installed capacity of 80 MW; and the Ghubrah III Independent Water Project to the 132kV Ghubrah grid station in 2027 with installed capacity of 50.8 MW.
Rounding off the list is the Shaleem Industrial Minerals Project of Minerals Development Oman (MDO), which will be connected to the 132kV Shuwaymiyah grid station in 2029 with installed capacity of 65.8 MW.
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