Oman's First Wind Farm Begins Generating Electricity

Oman’s first wind farm, the 50-MW Dhofar Wind Farm, has produced its first kilowatt hour of electricity, marking a major milestone for the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council region’s first utility-scale wind farm.

The wind farm was successfully connected to Oman’s electricity transmission grid earlier this month during the commissioning of the project’s first wind turbine. Renewable Energy Magazine reported.

The remaining 12 turbines will be commissioned, tested and connected to the grid and the start of commercial operations is expected before the end of 2019.

The project is being implemented by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) through an EPC consortium of GE Renewable Energy and Spain’s TSK.

Once fully commissioned, the wind farm is expected to generate enough electricity to supply 16,000 homes – equivalent to 7% of Dhofar governorate’s total power demand – and will offset an estimated 110,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, while reducing reliance on natural gas for domestic power generation.

GE Renewable Energy, a division of General Electric headquartered in Paris, has provided the project’s 3.8 MW wind turbines while TSK is responsible for the remainder of the wind farm’s infrastructure and electrical transmission facilities connecting the plant to the grid.