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International firms eye Oman for green hydrogen projects

16 Nov 2020

Oman’s Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ) on Monday announced that a group of international companies have expressed their interest to invest in the green hydrogen projects in the special economic zones and free zones in the sultanate.

In a press statement, Jalal bin Abdulkarim al Lawati from OPAZ said that the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones is currently evaluating a number of investment requests in the field of green hydrogen projects.

“Those companies are showing interest to invest in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm (SEZAD) and Sohar Free Zone to produce electricity from solar and wind energy as great sources to produce green hydrogen for export,” he said.

The international companies’ interest reflects the sultanate’s perfect characteristics and being one of the five potential destinations for investments in clean energy, according to the studies carried out by these companies, OPAZ said.

Oman enjoys the abundance of solar and wind energy sources, specially in Duqm area. Having huge spacious lands across the sultanate provide a great platform for placing solar panels and wind turbines to produce electricity.

Lawati said that OPAZ has initially designated a dedicated zone for the clean energy in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm. This zone covers an area of 100 sqkm, which is enough to generate about 10 gigawatts of electrical energy.

Furthermore, OPAZ is coordinating with other concerned government bodies to allocate an area in Sohar for expansion in producing solar energy.

“Clean hydrogen projects are considered one of the future strategic projects that international companies are interested to invest in as an environment-friendly alternative to oil and gas byproducts,” Lawati said.

OPAZ is aiming to place Oman in the global green hydrogen production chain through the special economic zones and free zones.

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