Hydrom’s Auction Round 2 Ends With 2 Green Hydrogen Projects

• Hydrom has announced 2 winners under round 2 of its green hydrogen auction 
• Both the winners target to install a total of around 9 GW of wind and solar energy capacity 
• It will be used to produce green hydrogen via electrolyzers along with green ammonia 

The green hydrogen subsidiary of Energy Development Oman (EDO) Hydrom has picked 2 winners under round 2 of its auction, signing contracts with consortiums led by France's Electricité de France (EDF) group and global investor Actis. 

The consortium of EDF and its subsidiary EDF Renewables, along with Japan's Electric Power Development (J-Power) and London-based green hydrogen company Yamna, is one of the winners. 

This consortium has won a 341 km² land block to host close to 4.5 GW of wind and solar energy with battery storage capacity to produce 178,000 tons per annum (tpa) of green hydrogen with a 2.5 GW electrolyzer capacity. It will be supplied to an ammonia plant that's planned to be built in the Salalah Free Zone to generate 1 metric ton per annum (mtpa) of green ammonia. 

Once the project is online, the consortium will own, operate and maintain the project for 47 years. 

As the other winning consortium, Actis and Australia's Fortescue will generate up to 200,000 tpa green hydrogen via electrolyzers, deploying around 4.5 GW of wind and solar energy resources. The green hydrogen produced will be supplied to local industrial offtakers and processed into derivatives such as green ammonia. It can then be exported via the Port of Salalah. 

These winners were selected out of more than 200 companies that Hydrom says expressed interest in the 2nd auction round. 

New contracts signed under round 2 will cover a land area of 682 km² where, according to Hydrom, average solar irradiance is 2,410 w/m² and wind speed ranges between 8.8 m/s to 8.3 m/s. 

Hydrom launched round 2 of its green hydrogen auction in June 2023 to award 3 land blocks in the Governorate of Dhofar to the winning projects. Under round 1, it selected the consortiums led by BP Oman, Amnah, GEO, POSCO-Engie and Hyport Duqm for land parcels in Duqm (see Hydrom Launches Round 2 In Oman).  

Hydrom is in charge of 50,000 km² of land out of which it has now awarded more than 2,300 km² for large-scale green hydrogen production. 

Hydrom's Managing Director Abdulaziz Said Al Shidhani said, "Together with the first wave of green hydrogen projects announced, Oman is taking a confident step forward towards achieving its ambitious goal to produce 1 to 1.5 million tonnes per annum of green hydrogen by 2030."