Week In Middle East: Oman And Belgium Signs MoU; Turkey Launches 1.5 GW Of Solar PV Tender; And More

Oman And Belgium Signs MoU For Green Energy

Oman and Belgium recently signed an MoU to partner on green energy-related issues under the presence of Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad al Rumhy, Minister of Energy and Minerals. This MoU is linked to the development of a world-scale green hydrogen scheme – dubbed HYPORT Duqm – at the SEZ in Duqm which agreement was signed last year. HYPORT Duqm is a joint initiative of OQ Alternative Energy (a division of OQ – the Sultanate’s integrated energy group) and DEME Concessions of Belgium (which is a key shareholder in Port of Duqm). A couple of days ago, an MoU was signed with German energy giant Uniper to provide engineering services and negotiate an exclusive offtake agreement of green ammonia from the project. HYPORT Duqm will connect to Port of Duqm’s brand-new export terminal, storage infrastructure, and liquid jetties and will use Port of Duqm as its gateway to deliver competitive decarbonized molecules across global users.

Turkey Launches 1.5 GW Of Solar PV Tender

In recent news, under the national renewable energy program Yeka (Yenilenebilir Enerji Kaynak Alanları), Turkey launched 1.5 GW of solar tender. The announcement was made by Turkey’s Ministry of Energy. This is the fifth in the Yeka series where a 10 to 30 MW capacity of around 76 large-scale solar PV projects will be selected. While the last date for application is January 12, the ministry has set a maximum price limit of TRY0.40/kWh ($0.045). Eren Engur, a board member of Turkish solar association, Günder, and president of its energy storage committee, said, “With this new announcement of YEKA-5, we can easily say that we’re on the right track of having a sustainable gigawatt PV market in Turkey with the support of the government.” “Furthermore, we are on the final phases of the inclusion of energy storage capacity in the upcoming YEKA tenders,” he added.

Algeria Aims At Generating 15,000 MW Of Solar Energy By 2035

According to Energy Transition and Renewable Energy of Algeria, Ziane Ben Attou, the country is planning to set up a funding body for energy projects. He said, “Algeria’s energy transition roadmap is based on three pillars. The first is to enact laws to facilitate the transition, the second is to opt for renewable and clean energy, and the third is to develop human resources by promoting research and development activities to achieve the transition.” The Minister also said that Algeria aims at producing 15,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2035 and would soon launch a bidding process for the same.  The country is promoting renewable energy in housing, agriculture, and the industrial sector and encouraging electric cars. It also wants to rely on green hydrogen as an asset for the future and become an active player in the field.  

DEWA Inaugurates Pilot Project Using Tesla’s Lithium-Ion Energy Storage Solution

As part of its efforts to diversify the energy mix and enhance energy storage technologies, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has inaugurated a pilot project for energy storage at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park using Tesla’s lithium-ion battery solution. The project has a power capacity of 1.21 MW and an energy capacity of 8.61 MWh with a life span of up to 10 years. Al Tayer noted that DEWA is implementing other energy storage projects. These include using Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) in the 4th phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which combines CSP and photovoltaic solar panels with a production capacity of 950MW. Bin Salman said that both pilot systems allow bi-directional charging (charged from the grid and/or solar plant and discharged to the grid).

Collaboration Of Snam And IRENA For Green Hydrogen

Europe’s largest energy infrastructure operator and IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency), the leading intergovernmental organization supporting countries in their sustainable, renewables transitions, have announced a Partnership Agreement aimed at developing hydrogen-based on renewables (‘green hydrogen’) to support the energy transition worldwide. The signing ceremony was held at the presence of Roberto Cingolani, Italy’s Minister for the Ecologic Transition, and the agreement was sealed by Marco Alverà, CEO of Snam, and Francesco La Camera, Director-General of IRENA, during the “The H2 Road to net zero” conference organized in Milan by Bloomberg in collaboration with IRENA and Snam. The two parties will cooperate to study and possibly implement alongside other partners, pilot projects on renewables generation, transport, and distribution of green hydrogen with a view to the development of replicable business cases.

Central Plus String Inverter, Sungrow’s Multi-Faceted Approach Lightens Up The Middle East Market

“The new PV installation capacity in the Middle East will exceed 50GW by 2030”, estimated by IHS. The Middle East, a region full of resources, boasts vast and sunny desert land, large PV installation capacity benefiting from scale economy, supportive policies from governments and public sectors, friendly financing environment, etc., which provide perfect conditions for PV plant building. This market now is becoming a coveted region for global renewable enterprises to snag a spot. Amid the fierce competition, Sungrow’s multi-faceted approach, namely the combination of central and string inverters, has proved successful in this promising market. Statistically, by the end of June 2021, the cumulative installation of Sungrow’s inverter equipment in the Middle East and North Africa exceeded 3GW; thus, ranking first in market share.

ACWA Power Will Issue Green Bonds To Finance RE Projects: CEO

ACWA Power at the starting of 2022, will issue green bonds for financing its renewable energy projects. ACWA Power is partly owned by Saudi Arabia’s PIF sovereign wealth fund. The company already has 5 projects certified for green finance, which together will require around $10 billion in financing. Earlier this month, ACWA Power announced its intention to float on the Riyadh bourse in an initial public offering (IPO) that could raise more than $1 billion. In August, ACWA Power and a consortium secured financing for Sudair Solar PV, a 1.5-gigawatt plant that is the first under the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) renewables program. The project is worth 3.4 billion riyals ($907 million), will be one of the largest single-contracted solar photovoltaic plants in the world and the biggest in Saudi Arabia said the company.