Dentons advises on project financing for Ibri III, Oman’s first utility‑scale solar and battery storage project

Dentons has advised Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking (Natixis CIB), First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and Bank Muscat on their role in the project financing for the Ibri III project, a 500 MW photovoltaic (PV) solar power plant with a 100 MW battery energy storage system, located in the Sultanate of Oman.

The sponsors’ consortium – comprising Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC (Masdar), Al Khadra Partners, Korea Midland Power Co. Ltd (KOMIPO) and OQ Alternative Energy (OQAE) – has reached financial close on the Ibri III Solar Independent Power Project, which represents Oman’s first utility-scale solar and battery storage project.

Financing facilities provided by Natixis CIB and FAB cover a substantial portion of the total project costs of approximately US$300 million. The project is being developed for Nama Power and Water Procurement (Nama) and supports the Oman Vision 2040 objectives, including the target of generating 30% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

Combining a 500 MW PV plant with a 100 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), Ibri III will generate enough electricity to power approximately 33,000 homes, while avoiding an estimated 505,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

The Dentons team was led by Kanishka Singh (partner, Abu Dhabi) and Udayan Mukherjee (partner, Dubai). They were supported by Yasser Taqi (partner, Muscat), Sadaf Buchanan (partner, Muscat), Riza Ismail (counsel, Doha), Tony Nicholson (senior associate, Dubai), Patrick Yeo (associate, Abu Dhabi), Andrew Gallagher (associate, Dubai), Darell Pang (associate, Abu Dhabi), Nisha Gupta (associate, Abu Dhabi) and Callum Laffey (paralegal, Abu Dhabi).