• Home
• Power & Utilities
• News Article

Qatar to tap solar power in a big way

DOHA: Qatar is all set to tap its abundance of solar power. Two leading international agencies yesterday announced their decision to partner with two Qatari entities to produce the green energy in the country.

SolarWorld AG, one of the world's largest solar companies, will partner with Qatar Solar Technology (QST), in which Qatar Foundation (QF) has a major stake. Separately, the Institute of Technical Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Centre (DLR), will partner with the country's ambitious Qatar National Food Security Programme (QNFSP).

Qatar Solar Technology marks the entry of QF into the solar energy sector. QF will have a 70 percent stake in QST, with SolarWorld holding 29 percent and Qatar Development Bank the remaining one percent.

The initial investment in QST is valued at over $500m, QF said.

Through the joint venture, solar grade polysilicon, the essential ingredient of solar panels, would be produced in the first phase.

QST will develop a new plant in Ras Laffan Industrial City , in the northeast of Qatar, which will be one of the first operational polysilicon plants in the region. The plant will produce well over 3,500 tonnes per annum of the material and will be designed with future expansion in mind, which will enable it to significantly increase production capacity.

The process technology and equipment to produce polysilicon will come from the leading German solar company Centrotherm Photovoltaics AG. Centrotherm Photovoltaics specialises in providing key equipment and services to the solar power industry. The contract was awarded immediately after the joint venture was announced yesterday.

Announcing DLR's partnership with QNFSP at a presentation made at Texas A&M University at Qatar, Professor Hans Muller-Steinhagen said that at the moment they were engaged in doing ground analysis of solar radiation. He said DLR's satellite images of Qatar showed that the country's northern region receives the most powerful solar radiation.

He outlined how Qatar could benefit from DLR's cutting-edge green technology and explained the different options suitable for Qatar, including power generation for desalination plants that could support the QNFSP's project to increase arable land in Qatar.

He said the satellite images, developed over the last 25 years, could be used to calculate how much solar radiation falls on every five square kilometre area in the world.

Steinhagen said an industrial consortium consisting of 12 major companies had signed an agreement to initiate a €400bn project with the aim of meeting 15 percent of Europe's electricity needs through solar thermal power plants in the MENA region.

" QF 's first investment in the renewable energy sector supports their strategic objectives to diversify Qatar's economy, drive high-technology research and development in the country, and promote the Foundation's financial sustainability. It is also evidence of the commitment of Qatar Foundation and the country to addressing the pressing environmental concerns of our day by investing in renewable energy", a QF press note said.

BY SATISH KANADY

© The Peninsula 2010