QatarEnergy awards contract for 875MW solar power plants

QatarEnergy has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for its industrial cities solar power project (IC Solar) to South Korea’s Samsung C&T.

The approximately QR2.3bn IC Solar project, which will result in direct emissions reduction of more than 28 million tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime, includes two large scale photovoltaic (PV) solar power plants.

These plants are to be built in Mesaieed Industrial City (MIC) and Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC), and are expected to start electricity production by the end of 2024, the company said in a statement. MIC will have a 417MW plant and RLIC will have a 458MW plant, with both plants occupying a combined area of 10 square kilometers.

The contract was signed between QatarEnergy Renewable Solutions – a wholly owned affiliate of QatarEnergy tasked with investing in renewable energy and sustainability projects – and Samsung C&T, the contractor to execute the project.

QatarEnergy awards contract to build two mega-solar power plants to generate 875 MW of renewable electricity#QatarEnergy #YourEnergyTransitionPartner⁣⁣ #Qatar pic.twitter.com/2ZfUnUQch4

— QatarEnergy (@qatarenergy) August 23, 2022

This is the second utility-scale solar project in Qatar and alongwith the Al Kharsaa Solar PV power plant, which is currently under construction, it will increase Qatar’s renewable energy generation capacity to 1.675 GW by 2024. The project will utilise high-efficiency bifacial modules mounted on single-axis trackers as well as cleaning robots to minimise losses due to soiling by removing dust from the PV modules, the statement added.

QatarEnergy awards the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for its industrial cities solar power project. pic.twitter.com/U6E84UAPV9

— QatarEnergy (@qatarenergy) August 23, 2022

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, president and CEO of QatarEnergy, said: “This IC Solar project is a major step in the implementation of our strategy to diversify Qatar’s energy resources and to increase the reliance on high-efficiency renewable energy, which is a cornerstone for a sustainable future. It also reaffirms our commitment towards delivery on QatarEnergy’s Sustainability Strategy and our mid-term target of having 5 GW of solar generated power by 2035.”