Oman Launches Tender for 800MW–1GW Hydrogen-Capable Power Plant

The tender documents are available for purchase from May 4 to May 31, with applications due by June 21. The selected consultant will carry out the first assessment of the project, including the technical and economic case for using green hydrogen in power generation rather than reserving it mainly for export markets.

That shift is important. Oman has spent the past several years positioning itself as a major green hydrogen exporter, with state-owned Hydrom awarding land to multiple large-scale projects targeting hydrogen and derivatives for Europe and Asia. But a hydrogen-fired power plant would mark one of the clearest signs yet that Muscat also wants a domestic demand base, not just an export pipeline.

The logic is straightforward: export demand for clean hydrogen is moving slower than many early forecasts suggested. Buyers remain cautious, offtake contracts are difficult to lock down, and high project costs are still challenging final investment decisions. In that environment, domestic hydrogen use in power generation could give Oman’s producers a local anchor customer and reduce reliance on overseas demand that may take longer to mature.

Oman still has major advantages. Its renewable resources, industrial land availability and centralized hydrogen planning have helped it attract developers, while the International Energy Agency has estimated that the country’s levelised cost of hydrogen could fall to around US$1.6/kg by 2030, making it competitive with grey hydrogen in some markets. But cost potential is not the same thing as bankable demand.

There have already been warning signs. In late 2025, two flagship Hydrom-backed projects planned to produce a combined 350,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year were cancelled, underlining that Oman’s hydrogen ambitions are not immune to the same financing, offtake and execution pressures hitting the wider global sector. A domestic power project will not solve those problems overnight, but it could give the country a more balanced hydrogen strategy.