Qatar Energy has announced it will build a new solar power ‘mega project’ that will more than double the State of Qatar’s solar energy production. It will significantly contribute to lower carbon emissions, within the framework of a realistic energy transition.
The new project will boost Qatar’s solar power production capacity to about 4,000MW; it will actually be one of the world’s largest solar power plants, and will be based in the Dukhan area. The overall production capacity will be more than 2,000MW.
The announcement was made by Saad Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, during a press conference held at the headquarters of Qatar Energy in Doha. He said: “I am pleased to announce that, in line with our Sustainability Strategy, we will more than double our solar power production capacity to about 4,000 megawatts by 2030 through the world-scale, 2,000 megawatt Dukhan Solar Power Plant.”
He added, “I would like to emphasise that developing solar power plants is one of Qatar’s most crucial initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions, develop sustainability projects, and diversify electricity production, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 4.7m tons per annum.”
The new solar project will be added to Qatar Energy’s solar power portfolio; this includes the existing Al-Kharsaah solar power plant, which was inaugurated in 2022 with a capacity of 800MW, and two solar power projects being built in Ras Laffan and Mesaieed industrial cities. These will have a total production capacity of 875MW and are expected to start production before the end of this year.