TotalEnergies and Veolia have signed an agreement to start the construction of the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) systems providing power for a desalination plant in Oman, in the city of Sur, according to the company's release. The power plant will be located on the site of the Sharqiyah Desalination plant, which is a reference in Oman and in the gulf region, supplying drinking water to more than 600,000 inhabitants of the Sharqiyah region.
This 17-megawatt peak (MWp) solar project will be the first of its kind to be installed in the region. It produces annually over 30,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of green electricity, or more than a third of the desalination plant's daily consumption, enabling it to avoid close to 300,000 tons of CO2 emissions.
This is in line with Oman’s National Energy Strategy to convert 30% of its electricity use to renewable sources by 2030. The plant will be equipped with more than 32,000 high-efficiency solar panels and will use an innovative East-West tracker system to increase energy production. It will cover an area of 130,000 square meters, equivalent to approximately 18 football pitches.
Veolia is deploying solutions to optimize the energy efficiency of its desalination activities, including its Sharqiyah Desalination plant. The Group, in partnership with TotalEnergies, has decided to take a further step towards green transformation by using renewable energy to power the plant instead of fossil fuels.
TotalEnergies aims to assist producing countries in building a more sustainable future through a better use of the country’s natural resources, including solar energy, which will directly improve the accessibility of cleaner, more reliable and more affordable electricity.
The company is leveraging its leadership position in the region to develop large-scale solar projects in Qatar, Iraq and Libya. These projects illustrate the sustainable development model of TotalEnergies, a global multi-energy company that supports producing countries in their energy transition.
As part of its ambition to get to net zero by 2050, TotalEnergies is building a portfolio of activities in renewables and electricity. At the end of June 2022, TotalEnergies' gross renewable electricity generation capacity is 12 GW. TotalEnergies will continue to expand this business to reach 35 GW of gross production capacity from renewable sources and storage by 2025, and then 100 GW by 2030 with the objective of being among the world's top 5 producers of electricity from wind and solar energy.
TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity.