Qatar launches first solar power plant

DOHA, 18 Oct – PRIME. The launch of the first solar-powered Al-Kharsaa power plant took place on Tuesday in Qatar, the opening of the power plant was attended by Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Qatar energy company QatarEnergy said in a press release received by RIA Novosti.

“The first solar power plant in Qatar and one of the largest in terms of size and capacity in the Arab region with a total capacity of 800 megawatts has been launched. It is built on a site of 10 square kilometers and includes more than 1.8 million solar panels that use motion tracking technology sun to ensure the best daily performance,” the company said.

Robots and used water are used to clean the panels at night.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Saad Al-Kaabi, head of QatarEnergy, said that “the plant in Al-Kharsaa is part of the country’s strategic initiative to implement projects related to the reduction of gas and thermal emissions.”

The Al-Kharsaah solar power plant is owned by a joint venture between QatarEnergy’s subsidiary Renewable Solutions (60%), Japan’s Marubeni (20.4%) and France’s TotalEnergies (19.6%).

It can provide approximately 10% of the electricity for the national grid at the time of peak demand.

In addition to increasing solar power capacity to more than 5 GW, Qatar’s sustainable development strategy aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deploy carbon capture and storage technologies to more than 11 million tons of carbon per year by 2035.