Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the largest producer of oil and gas in Oman, and GlassPoint Solar, the leader in solar enhanced oil recovery, on 8th of July 8, 2015 announced plans to build one of the world’s largest solar plants.
Miraah (meaning mirror in Arabic) will be a 1,021 megawatt solar thermal facility in South Oman, harnessing the sun’s rays to produce steam. The steam will be used in thermal EOR to extract heavy and viscous oil at the Amal oilfield. Miraah will deliver the largest peak energy output of any solar plant in the world.
The scope of this landmark project underscores the massive market for deploying solar in the oil and gas industry. The plant will provide a sustainable solution for EOR steam, which is currently produced by burning natural gas.
Once complete, Miraah will save 5.6 trillion British Thermal Units (BTUs) of natural gas each year, the amount of gas that could be used to provide residential electricity to 209,000 people in Oman.
The project will break ground this year with steam generation from the first glasshouse module in 2017. Once complete, Miraah will deliver more energy to the customer than any other solar plant in the world. The project is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by over 300,000 tons annually, the equivalent of taking 63,000 cars off the road.
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