The Sultanate of Oman has announced its 2030 target to produce 1 million tons per annum (MTPA) of green hydrogen annually with the help of solar and wind energy, and sets up Hydrogen Oman (Hydrom) to award land blocks, with 1st bidding round due to be launched on November 6, 2022.
Green hydrogen plans
Oman estimates 50,000 km² land available in the country for hydrogen production which can host an equivalent of 25 MTPA of hydrogen or 500 GW of renewables, according to the Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM). It aims to use this green hydrogen for domestic use and also to export the same mainly to Europe and Asia.
Broadly, the ministry envisions the green hydrogen target as:
Focused entity Hydrom
Hydrom will be fully owned as a subsidiary of the Energy Development Oman, regulated by the MEM. It is tasked with the delineation of government owned land areas and structuring of associated large scale green hydrogen projects. The new entity will also manage data repository on wind and solar resources.
It will also manage the competitive process of allocation to developers while facilitating the development of common infrastructure and connected ecosystem industries and hubs. Hydrom will work alongside Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ).
"Oman aims to become one of world's leading green hydrogen hubs," said Director General Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Abdulaziz Al Shidhani. "The development of the green hydrogen economy will provide a strategic opportunity for Omani and international companies to participate and collaborate in driving local and global energy security, economic diversification and much needed climate change mitigation."
Competitive selection to award land blocks
Hydrom will launch the country's 1st bidding round on November 6, 2022 to award land blocks for green hydrogen projects by 2023 to meet the 1 MTPA target by 2030. For this round, 2 blocks will be awarded in Duqm area.
Developers will be expected to propose a mix of wind and solar energy technologies that ensures a competitive levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH). Electrolyzer technology can either be PEM or alkaline electrolyzers. Developers will be able to choose the end product which can either by hydrogen, ammonia or methanol. They will also be expected to secure the offtake for their projects.
Request for qualification (RFQ) round will be launched on November 6, 2022, to be followed by a request for proposal round in December 2022. Winners of the 1st round will be announced in March 2023.
According to the tentative timeline of the 2nd bid round an additional 4 blocks will be awarded in Thumrait area. For this an investor roadshow will be held in April 2023, followed by RFQ in May 2023, RFP in August 2023 and winners announced in December 2023.
"The bid round we announced today is the first of its kind globally and we are convinced it will help accelerate the development of the green hydrogen industry in Oman and globally," added Acting Managing Director of Hydrom, Dr Firas Al Abduwani.
Oman aims to become a net zero economy by 2050 and it sees green hydrogen as a fast way to get there. The country is actively facilitating green hydrogen projects that are also increasing in numbers. ACME Group of India and Norway's Scatec have already announced a partnership to produce 1.2 MTPA green ammonia in Oman's Duqm SEZ with 300 MW electrolyzer and 500 MW solar energy producing 100,000 tons under phase I (see ACME Ropes In Scatec For Oman Ammonia Project).