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Solar power plant will produce oil
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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In the Arab state of Oman, construction has begun on a solar power plant (SPP), which will be used in a rather unusual way. The Omani solar power plant will not generate electricity, but will help produce steam for oil production.
The power plant was developed specifically for one of Oman's largest oil companies and the project was named Miraah. According to the developers, the power plant will have a capacity of 1 GW and will be an effective replacement for the method in which oil production requires natural gas to generate steam, which is common today.
According to the design, the power plant will have curved mirrors on the boiler pipe with water. In standard solar power plants, heat is used to produce steam, which rotates a turbine to generate electricity. The Mirraah solar power plant and the steam it generates will help make the process of oil extraction in adjacent oil fields easier and less expensive.
Oman's reserves of light oil (with low specific gravity) are running out and companies are looking for new, inexpensive and effective methods. Secondary methods of oil recovery are currently being considered, improved, more complex, but also more expensive, which imply facilitating the process of extracting heavy oil that cannot be pumped out by the usual method. The secondary method involves changing the density of the oil and maintaining the energy of the reservoir, due to which the process of pumping out the denser heavy oil is facilitated.
Oil located in deeper layers has a more viscous structure and flooding the reservoir with oil with steam is currently the main method of extracting the natural resource. Under the influence of high temperatures, oil becomes more liquid and the process of pumping it to the surface does not require additional efforts. But one of the disadvantages of this method is the excessive consumption of natural gas required to produce the required amount of steam - to produce 5 barrels of oil, it is necessary to spend energy, the cost of which is equal to 1 barrel of oil.
The Miraah solar power plant will replace environmentally harmful methods that use up huge reserves of natural gas. According to preliminary calculations, the power plant will help save enough gas to meet the needs of more than 200,000 people living in Oman. The solar power plant will be able to produce about 6,000 tons of steam daily, thereby taking the place of the world's largest solar installation for secondary oil extraction. After the power plant starts operating, natural gas consumption will decrease significantly, but exact figures are not announced.
In addition, the power plant designers have included self-cleaning modules that will help keep the mirrors clean. The exact completion date of the project is currently unknown, but the first batch of steam is expected by the end of next year. The Miraah power plant will cost $600 million and will occupy more than 3 km 2.