Oman has signed for a plant to build its own wind turbines.
On 26 January 2026 the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ) signed a usufruct agreement with Mawarid Turbine for a wind turbine manufacturing and assembly plant in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm (SEZAD). Two further agreements cover six wind turbines on separate plots to power the facility. The plant’s expected production capacity is 800 to 1,000 megawatts. Phase one is valued at about RO70 million and includes the manufacture of several turbine components and blades. Phase two will add a specialised factory for towers and other renewable energy components. Mawarid signed technology licensing, research centre, design and Omanisation agreements last year, and is developing an initial concept for a battery production project.
What to look for
The question for the coming months is how fast Mawarid moves from a land agreement to a working production line. Watch for the technology licensor and the turbine models to be named, and check whether new Oman wind tenders specify the machines Mawarid will build. If they do, Oman has created a local preference through the supply chain rather than through policy alone. Also worth following: whether the phase two tower factory moves to financial close.
What it means for MENA
Building the rotating machines is harder than rolling tower steel. If Mawarid’s Duqm facility hits its production range and delivers at scale, it becomes a potential regional supplier as well as a national one. SEZAD’s chief executive says the plant can sell internationally through exports via Duqm Port. In my view, a Middle Eastern turbine manufacturer with a free zone location and a local order book would change the economics for projects across the region, cutting delivery times, reducing currency exposure, and giving developers an alternative to a purely Chinese or European supply chain.
There is a longer story here too. MENA has exported raw materials for generations and imported the hardware built from them. Turbines are sophisticated, high-value capital goods. Every one assembled in Duqm is a step toward rebalancing that equation.
