Large Qatari plant to double solar capacity by 2030: minister September 2, 2024

A large photovoltaic farm

A large photovoltaic farm

By AFP -Agence France Presse

Large Qatari plant to double solar capacity by 2030: minister

A large new solar power plant planned in Qatar will double the Gulf emirate's previously projected renewable energy capacity by 2030, Qatar's Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi announced on Sunday.

The photovoltaic farm, which will be built in the Dukhan area, some 80 kilometers west of the capital Doha, will increase the gas-rich state's solar production capacity to four gigawatts by the end of the decade, Kaabi said.

The plant “that will be established in the Dukhan area will produce 2,000 megawatts, which is twice as much as Qatar's solar energy production capacity from current projects,” said the minister, chief executive of state-owned QatarEnergy.

In October 2022, Qatar inaugurated its first large-scale solar farm in al-Kharsaah, west of Doha. In August of the same year, the emirate announced another solar project with two plants in Ras Laffan, in the north.

With the combined projects, including in Dukhan, Qatar will achieve “4,000 megawatts of clean energy by 2030,” said Kaabi.

This “will constitute 30 percent of the State of Qatar's total energy production,” with an annual reduction of “4.7 million tons of CO2 emissions,” he added.

Kaabi said the existing projects should produce 1.7 gigawatts of energy “in the first quarter of next year, or early next year”.

The energy minister also announced plans to more than double Qatar's urea production, making the country the world's largest fertilizer producer by the decade's end.

He said that Qatar will “maximize the production of chemical fertilizers” through “a complex with global standards” that will “increase our production capacity from 6 million tons per year to more than 12.4 million tons per year”.

Qatar is one of the largest producers of liquefied natural gas in the world, alongside the United States, Australia, and Russia. Natural gas is an important ingredient in the manufacture of urea.

In February, Qatar announced plans to expand production at its North Field project, saying it will increase capacity to 142 million tons per year before 2030.

Last year, Qatar signed a series of long-term LNG deals with France's Total, Britain's Shell, India's Petronet, China's Sinopec, and Italy's Eni, among others.

csp/dcp