Energy and Climate Solutions

Solutions for green energy, improved energy efficiency, and climate change mitigation.

The energy systems of the world are in a stage of transformation and transition to a state in which our needs are met in ways that are secure, safe and sustainable for the long term. While this applies more or less to the world in its entirety, the Middle East region belongs to those that have to undergo the most extensive adjustment, given its high dependency on fossil fuels, including by way of export revenue and a stable economy. On the other hand, the Middle East countries have built first-rate expertise and practical knowledge in the energy field and are well equipped to adopt new sources of energy as well as upgrade their energy systems and make them more efficient.

All this is highly applicable to Oman which has set ambitious renewable energy targets for  2030 and 2040. Following a swift expansion, Oman’s share of electricity generation generated by solar and wind shot up from just a few percent a few years earlier, to reach 11,5 percent in 2025. Oman’s national strategy aims to raise this share to 30% by 2030 and 60% by 2040.

Oman engages in a swift transformation of its energy sector on several fronts. Total production by the refinery is subject to swift expansion and upgrading. A number of Green Hydrogen projects have been launched. The previously fragmented gris are in a stage of unification and energy storage capacity is being established. In these agendas, Oman welcomes foreign engagement and participation, opening for mutual benefits with international investors and providers of technology, know-how and access to export markets.

The Organisation for Quality and Innovation Strategies (Qualies) has long experience of energy policy, industry and international markets. It collaborates with several countries in the Middle East with advice and recommendations on the adoption of novel more efficient and more sustainable energy solutions. In Oman, Qualies representatives served on the national committees of OPAL (Oman’s Energy Association) for determining and rewarding best practice in the energy sector. It recently updated a sectoral review, first completed in 2022, spanning general trends, policy objectives, business development and new project agendas and investment opportunities in the energy sector. Related to this work, Qualies services match-making between selective foreign and Omani companies. Qualies engages in similar undertakings, offering related services, also in the domains of water, food/agriculture and waste/circularity.

Introducing the world’s only cost-parity biofuel

On a separate track, opening for potential huge benefits for Oman, Qualies supports the introduction of a unique algae-based biofuel in Oman, namely Sphaerica. Developed over the past decade by HutanBio, a research-based spin-off from Cambridge University in the UK, Sphaerica  has been successfully tried out through a 2-year pilot undertaken in Malaysia. In contrast to other biofuels, the resulting output has proven remarkably stable, capable of producing high-quality crude oil at low cost, and with 80 percent lower carbon footprint than fossil fuels.

HutanBio is ready to scale the product in a suitable environment, requiring ample sunlight, access to seawater and CO2, and the availability to ample land carrying a low opportunity cost. Oman is judged as an ideal location. In deliberations with local industry during a mission to Oman in 2026, HutanBio signed agreements with offtakers of its products, demonstrating high demand.  The detailed conditions for investment in Oman are currently examined in detail, with due consideration paid to all relevant practical, legal, and economic circumstances.