MUSCAT, DEC 17
International investor interest in three land blocks offered by the Sultanate of Oman as part of its Round 2 Public Auction, continues to be significant, according to Hydrom, the independent master-planner and orchestrator of the country’s green hydrogen sector.
More than 180 companies had submitted their qualifications by last month’s deadline to register their interest in participating in the round. Of this total, around 40 companies will be granted access to an online Request for Qualifications (RFP), some of which will go on to submit firm bids by January 28, 2024, the deadline set by Hydrom for Round 2.
Sharing an update on the public auction at the Green Hydrogen Summit Oman (GHSO) 2023 Conference that concluded in Muscat last week, Hydrom Managing Director Eng Abdulaziz al Shidhani said agreements covering one or more blocks awarded under this Round will be signed before the end of Q2 2024.
Significantly, Hydrom’s Round 2 has so far garnered as much international investor interest as Round 1, which was launched in November 2022, according to Al Shidhani.
“We witnessed participation from five continents - more than 160 international companies registered on our platform; More than 20 international companies (eventually) joined forces and formed consortiums,” he said.
The exercise culminated in the award of two blocks auctioned under the round, in addition to three other blocks firmed up under the ‘Legacy Stream’ of projects conceived prior to the formalization of a regulatory framework.
Meanwhile, agreements linked to a fourth ‘Legacy’ project – promoted by the SalalaH2 Consortium – were signed last week on the sidelines of GHSO 2023, bolstering investments in the green hydrogen sector to $38 billion to date, Al Shidhani said. The six projects in question will offer a combined renewable electricity capacity of 22.5 gigawatts with the goal of producing 925 kilotonnes per annum of green hydrogen by 2030.
In his address, Al Shidhani also affirmed Hydrom’s commitment to ensuring that the common infrastructure – critical to the smooth operation of the green hydrogen projects – will be in place well before the latter ventures come on stream starting in 2029.
A new ‘Infra-Company’ has been incorporated to invest in, operate and manage this infrastructure, comprising pipelines for the transportation of ultrapure desalinated water for electricity, potable water and wastewater, and potential hydrogen gas, in addition to electrical networks, specialised storage capacity for hydrogen, ammonia and methanol, and so on.
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