Oman signs up consultants for 500MW solar project

Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) has signed up a consortium of international consultants for a large-scale solar project coming up in the sultanate. The consortium, comprising top German engineering consultancy Fichtner, international investment banking and advisory services firm Synergy Consuilting and global law firm DLA Piper, will be advising the state-owned OPWP, the sole procurer of new power generation and water desalination capacity, on the development of the mega Independent Power Project (IPP) project, reported Oman Observer. As per the deal, Fichtner will provide technical advisory services, while Synergy Consulting will be responsible for financial advisory services and DLA Piper for legal advisory services. The trio will also advise OPWP in preparing the groundwork as well as the tendering documents for the competitive process leading to the implementation of a utility-scale solar power project of a world-scale capacity of up to 500 megawatts. Part of the remit of the advisory consortium is to pinpoint a suitable location for the sitting of the mega solar project, stated the report. Ibri in Dhahirah Governorate, as well as Manah and Adam in Al Dakhiliyah Governorate, have already been suggested as the ideal sites for setting up this largescale solar utility. The project is set to be developed on the Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model that has underpinned all of the privately developed power projects currently in operation in the sultanate, it added.