Hydrom, a government-owned company responsible for overseeing Oman’s green-hydrogen strategy delivery, has extended the deadline for submitting bids for a pair of land blocks that are earmarked for large-scale green energy investments.
These land blocks cover an area of approximately 320 square kilometers and are located in Duqm, Al Wusta Governorate. They are being auctioned in Phase A, Round 1 of Hydrom’s multiyear auction program.
Final offers must be received by March 15, 2023, as opposed to February 15, 2023, which was the deadline for the earlier round.
Hydrom has extended the bid submission deadline for Phase A Round 1 of its Oman Green Hydrogen Auction process by one month. The company stated that bidders should submit their proposals by March 15th, 2023.
International investor interest has been strong in Oman’s green-hydrogen program. As of mid-January 2023, as many as 180 parties had registered their details on Hydrom’s platform.
More than 50 companies received a Request for Qualifications document confirming their intention to participate in the auction process. Hydrom describes an unspecified number of companies that have passed the qualification stage as encouraging and in line with initial expectations.
The Round 1 blocks will be awarded by April 2023. This effectively opens the door for Oman to begin the work on its first-ever commercial-scale green hydrogen project.
The winning consortiums will be expected to develop integrated green hydrogen projects that cover the entire value chain. This includes solar and wind farms (upstream), green hydrogen production through electrolysis (midstream), and a green energy product consisting of hydrogen, ammonia, or derivatives for domestic or export.
After the first round has been awarded, a second round of bidding will be held for the auction of four additional land blocks in Thamrait (Dhofar Governorate).
These blocks will be granted before 2023 ends. The goal is to enable a national total production of 1 million tonnes of green hydrogen per year starting in 2030.
This targeted output will require investments of $30 billion, primarily to install around 20 GWs of renewable capacity and 10 GWs of electrolyzer capacity by 2030.
