Qatar inaugurated yesterday its 800 MWp Al Kharsaah solar PV power plant, according to state-run Qatar News Agency (here and here). Built at a cost of QAR 1.7 bn (c. USD 470 mn), the 800 MW facility will deliver about 10% of the country’s peak electricity demand, said TotalEnergies, a player in the consortium that owns and operates the facility. The project will feature a semi-automated cleaning system for its 1.8 mn solar panels and over 3k string inverters — devices used to convert solar energy into usable electricity.

The independent power producer is Qatar’s first large-scale solar power plant. It is owned and operated by Siraj 1SPV, a consortium owned jointly by TotalEnergies and Marubeni (40%), and Siraj Energy (60%). Siraj Energy is a JV between QatarEnergy and Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC). QatarEnergy’s CEO Saad Al Kaabi (also Qatar’s Energy Minister) said at a presser yesterday that the company has reserved land for future expansion of plant.

Qatar doubled the value of its solar energy projects in 2022. The country invested QAR 2.3 bn (USD 631 mn) in solar this year, bringing the country’s total investments in the segment to about QAR 4 bn (USD 1 bn), Qatar News Agency reported. These investments will go towards the Mesaieed and Ras Laffan solar plants, which are expected to increase the country’s renewable energy capacity to 1.67 GW by the end of 2024.

OVER IN EGYPT’S COP CITY-

China’s Sungrow to complete five solar plants in Sharm El Sheikh before COP27: Chinese solar energy company Sungrow will build solar plants with a combined capacity of 35 MW worth EGP 500 mn in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh before COP27, according to Egyptian daily Al Mal. The five plants will be completed in partnership with our friends at Hassan Allam Utilities as well as Gila Electric and Intro Energy, Al Mal quotes Sungrow’s North Africa division’s head of sales Mostafa Mohamed as saying.