(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and GlassPoint Solar a leader in solar enhanced oil recovery (EOR) on Wednesday announced plans to develop one of the world's largest solar plants in Oman at a cost of US$600mn.
To be named Miraah (mirror in Arabic) the project comes after the success of their EOR pilot project in Amal oilfield.
The new EOR project also at the Amal oilfield will be a 1021MW thermal facility in south Oman harnessing the sun's rays to produce steam which will be used to extract heavy and viscous oil.
Miraah is expected to deliver the largest peak energy output of any solar plant in the world. Besides the plant will provide a sustainable alternative to the use of natural gas to produce EOR steam.
Once complete Miraah will save 5.6tn British Thermal Units (BTUs) of natural gas every year – a quantity that could provide electricity to 209000 people in Oman.
While PDO will finance and own the project GlassPoint is the technology and engineering procurement and construction (EPC) provider.
During the contract signing ceremony on Wednesday Raoul Restucci managing director PDO said that the project will provide a significant portion of the steam demand at Amal and is an important part of PDO's production plans. 'The use of solar for oil recovery is a long-term strategic solution to develop PDO's viscous oil portfolio and reduce consumption of valuable natural gas which is needed elsewhere to diversify Oman's economy and create economic growth. It also will displace diesel and higher carbon intensive power generation and oil burning in future thermal projects.'
PDO has been working with GlassPoint since 2010 on a successful pilot scheme at Amal to test the commercial viability of solar steam. The 7MW scheme produced 50 tonnes of steam a day and will continue to operate at Amal alongside the full-scale development.
Rod MacGregor president and CEO of GlassPoint Solar said 'The oil and gas industry is the next major market for solar energy. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to produce heavy and viscous oil with a typical oil field consuming the same amount of energy as a small city.'
The full-scale project will be over 100 times larger than the pilot and will generate an average of 6000 tonnes of solar steam daily for oil production dwarfing all other solar EOR installations.
It will comprise 36 glasshouse modules built and commissioned in groups of four. The total project area including all supporting infrastructure will span 3sq km equivalent to over 360 football fields. The actual solar field will span less than 2sq km.
The project will break ground this year with steam generation from the first glasshouse module expected in 2017.
Miraah is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by over 300000 tonnes annually the equivalent of taking 63000 cars off the road.
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