A consortium of France's Total and Japan's Marubeni Corporation will build a 800 MW solar power plant in Qatar's Al-Kharsaah area west of Doha for an estimated cost of QAR 1.7 billion ($467 million). The two have won the tender launched by Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) for an initial capacity of 700 MW. They beat four competitive offers submitted by other heavyweights that were shortlisted (see 16 Bidders Pre-Qualify For 700 MW Qatar PV Tender).
A project of this scale holds importance for the state of Qatar as it will generate about 10% of its current peak electricity demand, said Qatar's Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum (QP), Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi during the agreement signing ceremony with the winners.
Majority stakeholder in the Al-Kharsaah Solar PV Plant will be Siraj Energy with a 60% share while the remaining 40% will be owned by Total and Marubeni. Siraj Energy is a joint venture between QP and Kahramaa. The project will be built on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis under a 25-year agreement. Kahramaa will own the plant thereafter.
In the first phase, 350 MW will be grid connected by Q1/2021, the rest should be online a year later in Q1/2022. The entire 800 MW is envisaged to come up on a 10 km2 area. Power generated will be bought by Kahramaa at a competitive unit price which was not specified but termed as 'currently the lowest in the world for such a project'.
"The project will include application of the latest solutions and innovations in solar energy technology, including the use of bifacial panels, utilizing state-of-the-art automated systems to track the sun and the use of robots for continuous cleaning of solar panels to ensure the continuity of production efficiency and reduce plant operating costs," said Kahramaa's General Manager and Managing Director, Fahad bin Hamad Al-Mohannadi.
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