GEO Calls for Construction of Thousands of Wind and Solar Energy Plants
Energy major Shell has taken a 35 percent equity stake in the Green Energy Oman project, or GEO, the largest planned renewable fuels production facility in the Middle East.
The US$30 billion venture, unveiled in 2021, is being developed in multiple phases by a consortium comprising state energy firm OQ, global green fuels company InterContinental Energy, Kuwaiti clean tech investor EnerTech and Golden Wellspring Wealth.
Shell will join the consortium as lead operating partner following an agreement signed with existing members, Oman’s energy ministry said.
“The project remains in its early phase, but this (acquisition) is a sign of the potential we see for Oman through the energy transition,” said Walid Hadi, senior vice president and country chair of Shell Oman.
GEO is the most ambitious in a series of world-scale wind, solar and green hydrogen projects being developed in Oman, as the sultanate sets its sights on becoming a global hub for renewable energy production.
As a major plank of its Vision 2040 policy to pivot the economy away from fossil fuels and towards more sustainable sectors, Oman is aiming to produce 11 percent of its electricity demand from renewable sources by 2025, and 30 percent by the end of the decade.
GEO is planning to deploy a massive 25 gigawatts, or GW, of renewable energy capacity – equivalent to thousands of wind turbines and solar panels – across a 6,500-square-kilometer tract of land in the sprawling, southernmost governorates of Al Wusta and Dhofar.
Those facilities would power water desalination and electrolysis plants to produce an estimated 1.8 million tonnes per year of zero-carbon hydrogen. Production could be utilized locally, shipped abroad or used as feedstock to make up to 10 million tonnes per year of green ammonia for export.
Construction is slated to begin in 2026, with first-phase operations up and running a year later. Full capacity is expected to be reached by 2037.
Shell is a member of the Breakbulk Global Shipper Network, a worldwide group of shippers involved in the engineering, manufacturing and production of project cargo.
PHOTO: Khimji Ramdas Shipping moves OOG units in Oman. CREDIT: Khimji Ramdas Shipping
