Driving Sustainable Fuel Innovation: reFuel.ch and the Port of Sohar Join Forces
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In early December 2025, at the Green Hydrogen Summit in Muscat, Oman, the Port of Sohar and Freezone and Empa — acting as coordinator of the reFuel.ch sustainable fuel upscaling project initiative in Oman — signed a letter of intent to explore the feasibility of establishing the first plant to produce sustainable fuels on the site of the Port of Sohar and Freezone. As one of Omans major industrial and logistics hubs, strategically located along key global trade routes between Asia and Europe, the site offers ideal conditions for this pioneering project.
The first plant, currently in its pre-feasibility phase, will feature a 25 MW PV-based electricity supply. Its purpose is to generate technological and operational insights that enable the scale-up of two further larger plants in Oman. Based on these findings, a medium-sized plant with 200 MW capacity and, ultimately, a large-scale plant with 2 GW of electrical supply, are envisioned.
Beyond production, the first plant will also function as a platform for joint research and development in sustainable energy technologies. Key topics include load flexibility in large-scale plants and sustainable water and CO₂ supply — challenges that will be addressed collaboratively across disciplines and sectors.
As part of the SWEET consortium, Empa is conducting a pre-feasibility study for this three-stage initiative, which is concerned with upscaling sustainable fuel production technology, with contributions from various reFuel.ch consortium members and in dialogue with around 30 partners from industry and market. Project coordination is to transition to an industry-led consortium in summer 2026.
