Oman plans to build its first major wind farm at a cost of $200 million to generate electricity in its southern governorate of Dhofar, as part of efforts to limit the use of oil and gas in power generation.

The wind farm at Harweel will have a capacity of 50 MW, enough to meet about 50 per cent of demand in the governorate during the winter, and is expected to begin operating early in 2017, state-owned Rural Areas Electricity Company (RAEC) said. The project will be co-ordinated by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and financed by a grant from Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

 The turbines will be made in a Western nation while local contractors will be given a large share of the construction work, said RAEC, which is planning to launch seven more renewable energy projects next year: five solar energy projects and two wind power plants.