In July 2022, Enerzine reported on the start of construction of Oman's largest photovoltaic project dedicated to a desalination plant. Under an agreement between TotalEnergies and Veolia, a 17-megawatt-peak installation was being built on the site of Sharqiyah Desalination in Sur, which supplies drinking water to more than 600,000 people in eastern Oman. More than 32,000 panels with east-west tracking on 130,000 m² were to generate over 30 GWh a year, more than a third of the plant's power demand.
The report showed an approach then new to the Middle East: an existing desalination plant received its own on-site solar power to cover part of its high energy demand from renewable sources.
Source: Enerzine