French energy company Total and Veolia have signed an agreement to begin construction of the world's largest solar photovoltaic system to power a desalination plant in the city of Omansur. The power plant will be located on the site of the Sharqiyah desalination plant in Oman, providing drinking water to more than 600,000 residents in the Sharqiyah region.
The 17 MW peak solar project will be the first of its kind installed in the region. It produces more than 30,000 megawatt-hours of green electricity annually, or more than a third of the electricity the desalination plant consumes every day, allowing it to avoid nearly 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
This is in line with Oman's national energy strategy to convert 30% of electricity use to renewable energy by 2030. The plant will be equipped with more than 32,000 high-efficiency solar panels and will use the innovative East-West tracking system to increase energy production. It will cover an area of 130,000 square meters, roughly equivalent to 18 football fields.
