Qatar launches first utility-scale solar park

Qatar on Tuesday inaugurated the 800-MWp Al Kharsaah complex -- the first large-scale solar park in the Gulf country.

The ceremony was attended by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and marked the plant's connection to the power grid.

Built on an area of 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) about 80 km west of the capital Doha, the solar complex has the capacity to produce enough power to supply 10% of the country's peak power consumption and offset 26 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions during its lifetime.

The plant has a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Qatar's power grid operator Kahramaa.

Al Kharsaah was developed and is operated by Siraj 1 - a joint venture in which QatarEnergy's wholly-owned subsidiary Siraj Energy holds the majority stake of 60% and the rest is controlled by TotalEnergies and Marubeni.

In addition to Al Kharsaah, QatarEnergy is working on two more solar power projects in Qatar with a combined capacity of 875 MW. The plants will be built in two industrial cities, boosting the Gulf country's green energy generation capacity to 1.675 GW.

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