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Round 3 is the third sequential tendering step within Hydrom's centralised land-allocation regime, which was established by Royal Decree 10/2023 designating Hydrom as the singular state orchestrator for green-hydrogen development in Oman.
Round 3 design changes from prior rounds:
1. Flexible block design. Unlike Rounds 1 (Duqm, June 2023) and 2 (Dhofar, April 2024), which prescribed fixed concession footprints, Round 3 offers a contiguous block of up to 300 km² in Duqm and allows each bidder to specify a minimum 100 km² footprint within that block. This "developer-defined" footprint model lets bidders calibrate electrolyser and renewables capacity to their own offtake and financing structures rather than accepting a pre-sized parcel — a direct response to developer feedback from Rounds 1 and 2 that fixed-parcel sizing constrained bankability.
2. 9-month preparation window. The auction runs: RFQ launch (30 Apr 2025) → RFQ shortlisting → RFP release → bid submission (early 2026) → award. The extended runway is intended to attract first-time entrants who need more time to form consortia and arrange offtake MoUs before committing to a binding proposal.
3. Grid electricity sale optionality. Subject to regulatory approval, Round 3 developers may sell surplus renewable electricity into Oman's national grid. This opens an additional revenue stream not available in prior rounds, improving project economics under scenarios where hydrogen production is curtailed.
4. Infrastructure access commitments. Projects will connect to the planned 2,000-km intra-Oman hydrogen pipeline and the liquid hydrogen export corridor from Duqm Port to the Port of Rotterdam and to German importers — the latter underpinned by bilateral energy partnership MoUs between Oman and Germany/Netherlands signed in 2022-2023.
Cumulative programme scale: Rounds 1 and 2 together contracted eight large-scale projects with a combined capacity of over 1 million tonnes per annum of green hydrogen (and derivatives) by 2030, anchored by more than 30 GW of dedicated renewable capacity and USD 49 bn in total investment commitments.
Round 2 focused on Dhofar. The flexible block model signals Hydrom is willing to experiment with auction design to sustain pipeline momentum as the global green-hydrogen financing environment has tightened since 2023.
of whether institutional appetite for GCC green-hydrogen concessions has recovered from the 2023-2024 FID slowdown at projects in South Africa, Australia and Chile. Strong bid count and competitive pricing would be a positive signal for comparable auctions in Saudi Arabia (NEOM/REPDO) and UAE (Masdar).
hourly-matching requirements can count toward EU industrial offtakers' renewable hydrogen quotas. Round 3's 9-month window is partly designed to give bidders time to align project parameters with the EU Delegated Act (published November 2023) before finalising proposals.
at least 0.5–1.5 GW of electrolyser capacity (depending on electrolyser-to-renewable ratio). In aggregate, Round 3 adds further order-book signal for Tier-1 suppliers (Nel, Thyssenkrupp Nucera, Siemens Energy, Sungrow, Longi).
given continued uncertainty around EU RED III hourly-matching compliance costs.
(Oman's electricity regulator) in time to be included in the RFP, or whether it remains aspirational.
launch, unlike Round 2 (which had EDF/J-Power/Yamna and Actis/Fortescue in advanced discussions at RFQ).