Total to develop Qatar’s 1st large-scale (800 MWp) solar plant

Paris, January 20 - Neftegaz.RU. Total has entered into agreements for the development of the Al Kharsaah Solar PV IPP Project, a 800 megawatt-peak (MWp) solar plant that will be located 80 km west of Doha. The project was awarded to a consortium of Total (49%) and Marubeni (51%) as the result of the country’s 1st solar tender.

“We are proud to pioneer the development of the 1st large-scale solar power plant in Qatar and support the country’s assertive commitment to developing renewable energy", said Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of Total. “Al Kharsaah, Total’s largest solar project to date, will contribute to our ambition to deploy 25 GW of renewables by 2025. This project further strengthens our long-term partnership with Qatar in oil, gas, refining and petrochemicals and expands it to include renewable energy."

Qatar’s 1st large-scale solar power plant, Al Kharsaah will provide sustainable, affordable and clean energy to industries, services and individuals through the Qatari grid starting from 2021 with an initial 350 MWp capacity before reaching its full capacity in 2022. It will represent around 10% of electricity peak demand of the country and will reduce the CO2 emissions of Qatar by 26 million tons during the life of the project.

The solar plant will be built on over 1000 hectares of land and equipped with 2 million bifacial solar modules with trackers, allowing substantial power gains and leveraging the advantage of the exceptional sunlight exposure in the region. It will represent an investment of around $500 million.

The project will be developed and operated by Siraj 1 SPV, jointly owned by the Consortium of Total Solar International and Marubeni (40%), alongside Siraj Energy (60%), a JV between Qatar Petroleum (40%) and QEWC (Qatar Electricity & Water Company, 60%).The project benefits from a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply electricity to the offtaker Kahramaa.

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