Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani inaugurated the Gulf state’s first utility-scale solar power plant on Monday.

Qatar Energy said in a press statement that the 800-megawatt (MW) Al-Kharsaah Solar PV Power Plant (KSPP), built over an area of 10 square kilometres, incorporates more than 1,800,000 solar panels that utilise sun tracking technology to drive efficient land use and maximise daily production.

The project is joint venture between QatarEnergy Renewable Solutions (60 percent), Marubeni (20.4 percent) and TotalEnergies (19.6 percent), the statement said.

KSPP started supplying power to Qatar’s grid in June, marking the start-up of the 400 MW first phase, and full capacity was reached by the end of the second phase, the statement said, adding that the plant can meet about 10 percent of Qatar’s peak electricity demand.

Qatar Energy’s updated Sustainability Strategy includes target of increasing solar power capacity to over 5,000 MW and deploying carbon capture and storage technology to capture over 11 million tonnes per annum of CO2 in Qatar by 2035.

(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)