Crossing the Wadi by Touching the Stones: China and the Emerging Geographies of Green Energy in Oman

In 2019, two Pakistani camel herders working for an Omani sheikh were asked to move their farm to make way for a 500 MW solar park in the vicinity of Ibri, a small city in Oman’s hinterland. The deal was brokered by the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, with Chinese green giant Jinko supplying most materials and engineering. Three years later, the solar plant was complete, but it came with an adjacent industrial city, plans for urban reform, and a new highway connecting Oman to Saudi Arabia via Ibri.

How is the solar energy industry driving China’s global expansion, and why is the Middle East a critical space for its materialization? In what ways is this expansion re-defining local geographies and the global position of oil-dependent states like Oman? This presentation argues that solar energy acts as a nexus connecting the transformation of global energy capitalism, China’s green expansionism, and the push for diversification in the Persian Gulf as outlined in documents like the Oman Vision 2040, a policy document seeking foreign investment, economic diversification, and energy transition.

By putting the experience of Ibri at the center, I show how (i) solar energy projects are inscribed in an already existing East-East energy circuit based on oil imported by China from the Gulf; (ii) the Chinese green industry offers a way towards diversification in oil-dependent countries; and (iii) Chinese-funded projects often come in partnership with trade infrastructure (ports, highways, industrial zones) that recenter peripheral sites in countries like Oman into transnational energy and trade corridors. In doing so, I highlight how global transformations materialize in local geographies, bringing together debates on the contemporary history of China, the Middle East, and the politics of energy.