The Omani government is set to shortly roll out a high-powered ‘Support Unit’ to help smooth the way for international investors preparing to simultaneously implement a raft of mega-scale green hydrogen (gH2) projects worth billions of dollars over the next several years in the Sultanate of Oman.
To date, six world-scale hydrogen projects have been agreed for development at an estimated cost of $38 billion in Al Wusta and Dhofar Governorates. When operational by 2030, the six ventures target an aggregate green hydrogen output of around 1 million tonnes per annum.
But mindful that the scale, magnitude, geographical concentration and limited window for delivery of these projects would pose a logistical nightmare for developers, a ‘Delivery Support Unit’ is being assembled by the government, according to Mohsin al Hadhrami, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Minerals.
Speaking at the Energy Executives Circle on Thursday, held as part of the Green Hydrogen Summit Oman (GHSO 2023) conference, he said a ‘Delivery Support Unit’ is proposed to be announced by the government as early as this week. Its primary remit is to anticipate and address all hurdles – construction, logistics and labour-related – to facilitate the timely and efficient completion of the projects, he noted.
“We want to iron the path forward! So do we have enough road (infrastructure) to take all equipment to the right place? Do we have enough vessels? Do we have people to take care of these activities? Are they going to do it safely? Do we have to make sure the quality is right? Do we have soft permitting requirements and licenses in place, et cetera? Indeed, there are so many things that could hinder us, but we are not going to wait to find out. We are going to predict these challenges, and the Delivery Support Unit will make sure we are prepared for these challenges,” the Under-Secretary stated.
To meet the targeted output of 1 million tonnes per annum of green hydrogen by 2030, the six mega-scale projects will need to install, among other hardware, tens of millions of solar panels, several hundred wind towers, equally large number of electrolyzers and other associated equipment. Not included in this mix are the massive quantities of hardware necessary to build the common infrastructure, pipeline networks, copper and fibre optic cables, and the downstream plants themselves.
A representative of the Amnah Consortium, which is developing a major project in the Z1-01 concession in Al Wusta Governorate, hinted that the number of trucks necessary to move equipment to site would be off the charts. Placed end to end, the line of trucks will extend from Sohar Port all the way to Salalah and back, underscoring the magnitude of the logistics they entail, he stressed.
