An important step for moving forward in developing a sustainable fuel production: The SWEET consortium reFuel.ch and the Port of Sohar and Freezone in Oman are joining forces for launching a research and production facility. Their commitment to collaborate in upscaling sustainable fuel production is marked by a letter of intent, signed at the Green Hydrogen Summit in Oman in December 2025.
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 perfect conditions for this pioneering project.
The first plant, currently in its pre-feasibility phase, will feature a 25 MW solar-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 coordinator 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 dialog with around 30 partners from industry and markets. Project coordination is to transition to an industry-led consortium in summer 2026.
SWEET (Swiss Energy research for the Energy Transition) funding programme
The SWEET programme issues rolling calls for proposals for consortium projects and will continue until 2032. Funding is provided only for consortium projects that address central research topics of the 2050 Energy Strategy and Switzerland’s long-term climate strategy in a comprehensive manner. SWEET focuses on solution-oriented research and on demonstrations of the results achieved. The SFoe has the lead for the SWEET programme.
