Renewable Energy

Chinese company to build solar plant in Oman freezone

April 30, 2025, 7:42 AM

Oman and China are partnering on a significant solar project supporting Oman's objective of creating a pollution-free environment

Farm funded by China’s JA Solar
Latest green energy initiative
Production begins early 2026

Oman has signed a deal with a Chinese company to develop a sizeable solar power plant in the north of the country.

It is the latest in a series of green energy initiatives as the sultanate aims to diversify from fossil fuels and power green hydrogen ambitions.

The $564 million solar farm will be wholly funded by China’s JA Solar and will be built in the Sohar Freezone with a production capacity of 6GW annually over a site of 33 hectares.

It will start production in the first quarter of 2026, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotions (MCIIP).

“We aim to achieve a pollution free environment as part of our 20-year target,” Khalid Al Qassabi, director general of industry at MCIIP, told AGBI.

This is the second green energy agreement Oman has signed with a Chinese company this year. Earlier this month, China’s Shanghai Electric Wind Power Group signed a $200 million deal to build a wind turbine factory in the central industrial city of Duqm.

In terms of solar, the 560MW Ibri II plant has been operational since 2022 while the 500MW Manah 1 was tendered last year.

Other projects include a wind farm in Dhofar in the south, 11 solar-diesel hybrid facilities and the Sahim initiative, which installs small-scale solar panels on residential and commercial buildings.

The Sohar freezone on the Arabian Gulf in the north of the sultanate covers 4,500 hectares and has attracted investment worth $30 billion to date.

Last year Oman’s state-run Hydrom signed two agreements worth $11 billion with a consortium led by Electricité de France (EDF Group) as well as Actis and Fortescue to develop green hydrogen projects in Dhofar in the south of the sultanate.

Oman produces about 1 million barrels a day of crude oil. The income accounts for about 70 percent of its national revenues annually.

The sultanate controls around 5 billion barrels of recoverable oil deposits and nearly 25 trillion cubic feet of gas but, in the absence of major discoveries, oil could run out within 15 years and gas in 20 years.