Oman's Solar Project | Russell T. Rudy Energy LLC
In several previous posts, I have discussed enhanced oil recovery in general, and Oman’s Miraah project in particular. A recent article in “World Oil” updates the status of the latter.
While still in the initial stages, the project is ahead of schedule. The word “miraah” means mirror in Arabic and the facility will be one of the world’s largest solar plants. It will produce one gigawatt of solar energy which will be used to generate steam for injection into the Amal Field’s heavy oil reservoir. Solar energy will be used instead of natural gas for steam generation. This will enable 5.6 trillion British Thermal Units of gas per year to be diverted to residential power generation for 209,000 Omanis.
Miraah will generate 6,000 tons of steam per day and is scheduled to start-up in 2017. The facility will be composed of 36 glasshouses and cover three square kilometers, the equivalent of 360 football fields. The technology has already been tested at a pilot plant at Amal which has successfully operated for nearly three years. However, Miraah will be 100 times larger than the pilot.
Both the government agency, Petroleum Development of Oman, and the contractor, GlassPoint Solar, are confident that the project will be completed on schedule and under budget.
To read the article in its entirety, please go to http://www.worldoil.com/news/2015/11/05/petroleum-development-oman-glasspoint-break-ground-on-landmark-solar-plant-miraah .
