Some projects test your equipment. Others test your experience. The NARI Group energy storage project near Duqm was both ، and it’s one of the most demanding and most rewarding productions we’ve completed in Oman.
Over the course of 180 days, from groundbreaking to completion, Ostooreh Studio was trusted to document the full journey of a large-scale energy storage facility near Duqm ،a joint initiative between NARI Group Corporation and Nama (Oman’s national electricity company). Our role covered both aerial (drone) photography and ground photography and videography, capturing the scale, precision, and engineering behind one of the region’s significant energy infrastructure projects.
This is the story of how we approached it ،and why we believe the partner you choose to document your project matters just as much as the project itself.
The Project: An Energy Storage Facility Built at Scale
The site near Duqm was developed as an energy storage installation designed to strengthen Oman’s power grid ,a collaboration between NARI Group, one of China’s leading suppliers of power equipment and grid solutions, and Nama, Oman’s national utility company. From the first phase of construction to the final handover, the project unfolded across six months, covering a vast industrial footprint.
Our job was to make that scale visible: to translate months of engineering, logistics, and construction into a visual record that could communicate the size, precision, and significance of the work to stakeholders, partners, and future audiences.
What We Captured: A Complete Visual Record
For a project of this scale, partial coverage isn’t good enough;every dimension of the site needed to be documented in a way that told the full story of what was being built. Our coverage was structured around five key areas, each essential to giving the client a complete and usable visual archive:
- Overall site view: Wide aerial shots that captured the full scale of the facility within its surrounding landscape, giving stakeholders an immediate sense of the project’s size and layout.
- Project progress: Scheduled photography and videography at key construction milestones, creating a visual timeline from an empty plot of land to a fully operational facility.
- Equipment: Close, detailed ground photography of the technical equipment and machinery on-site, documenting the engineering quality and precision behind the installation.
- Internal routes and pathways: Coverage of the site’s internal access roads and pathways, important both for operational documentation and for showing how the facility was organized and connected.
- Management and executive visits: Real-time photography and videography during visits from company leadership, capturing both the formal meetings and the on-site walkthroughs as they happened.
- The official project launch: Coverage of the moment the energy storage system was formally brought online, marking the operational start of the facility.
Combining aerial and ground perspectives across all five areas meant the client ended up with more than a set of images; they had a full, structured record of the project from every angle that mattered.
A Defining Moment: Capturing the Official Project Launch
One of the most meaningful moments we were trusted to document came during a site visit, when the director of the Omani company gave the first command to begin operations , officially bringing the energy storage system online and marking the practical launch of the project.
It was a single moment, but it carried the weight of 180 days of work behind it. Our team had to be positioned and ready to capture it precisely as it happened: the command being given, the reaction on-site, and the facility beginning its operational life — knowing there would be no second take. Moments like this are exactly why experienced coverage matters: when a project reaches its defining milestone, the documentation has to be right the first time.
The Challenges That Shaped This Project
Large industrial projects rarely go exactly as planned, and this one came with a distinct set of challenges that pushed our team to rely on real experience rather than guesswork.
1. High wind speeds near Duqm The region is known for consistently strong winds, which made drone operation significantly more difficult than on a typical site. Flying safely and steadily in these conditions required an experienced pilot who could read the wind, adjust flight patterns in real time, and still deliver stable, usable footage without compromising safety or speed.
2. Heavy dust in an industrial environment Duqm’s surroundings are heavily industrial, and dust levels on and around the site were consistently severe. Dust doesn’t just affect visibility. it settles on lenses and drone sensors, degrades image clarity, and demands constant equipment care and shot re-checking to keep every frame sharp and professional.
3. The sheer scale of the site This wasn’t a project that could be covered from one or two vantage points. The environmental footprint of the site meant our drone coverage had to be planned and executed across a wide area, ensuring no part of the facility’s development, including its internal routes and pathways, was left undocumented.
4. A language barrier with the on-site team Communication with the Chinese engineering team, who had limited English proficiency, added another layer of complexity. Understanding technical priorities, site safety protocols, and shot requirements on the fly meant relying on non-verbal cues, visual references, and the kind of adaptability that only comes from experience working across cultures and industries.
5. High-stakes, high-pressure site visits On several occasions, CEOs from both the Omani and Chinese companies visited the site together to review progress. During these visits, we had to simultaneously photograph and film the walkthrough, the site activity, and the formal meetings, reading the room, anticipating the next moment, and selecting the best angle and lighting in real time, all while everyone was constantly moving between locations.
Every one of these challenges came down to the same thing: knowing what to do without being told, because we understood what a client at this level expects.
Why Experience Is the Real Deciding Factor
This project reinforced something we already believed: the value of a content production partner isn’t just about equipment or editing, it’s about experience.
When you’re documenting a project of this scale, there’s no room for trial and error. You need a team that has already faced difficult wind and dust conditions, tight communication windows, unpredictable site visits, and complex logistics and knows how to handle all of it without slowing the project down.
If your business is investing significant time, budget, and effort into a large project, the way it’s documented should reflect that investment. A team without the right experience may miss the shots that actually matter, fail to capture the true scale of the work, or simply not know how to move fast enough when conditions change on-site.
Choosing a studio with a track record of similar industrial and corporate projects isn’t just a preference; it directly affects whether your project’s full scope and impact are properly represented. You can see more examples of our work with construction and industrial clients in our portfolio.
Working With NARI Group
NARI Group Corporation is one of China’s largest suppliers of electric power equipment and a major player in the global power industry, delivering technology, products, and solutions for sectors including energy, industrial control, and rail transportation. With a global engineering team and operations spanning dozens of countries, NARI brings serious scale and technical expertise to every project it undertakes ,which made this collaboration, alongside Nama, a project we’re genuinely proud to have documented.
Our Takeaway
We’re proud that NARI Group and Nama trusted Ostooreh Studio to represent the scale and outcome of their work through our lens. Projects like this are exactly why we built our team around adaptability, technical skill, and industry experience, because when the stakes are high, there’s no substitute for having done it before.
If your company is planning a large-scale industrial, construction, or infrastructure project in Oman and needs a content production partner who can handle the scale, the pressure, and the details, get in touch with our team;that’s exactly what we do.