The leading OPEC nation and host of this year's UN Climate talks, Qatar is joining it's neighbor Saudi Arabia and other nations in planning of new Renewable projects.
The minister of industry and energy of Qatar, Mohammed Saleh Al Sada said in a press conference in Doha, that the government is planning to install 1,800 MW of Solar Power by 2020. The Minister said that they are looking to produce more green energy to save burning natural gas in their own power plants, which later can be sold globally for higher price. Also Qatar is aiming to finish the Construction of the Project by 2018. Qatar is planning to power its desalination plants with solar power, which are currently gas fueled.
If the planned project comes online, Renewable will power from 0% at present to nearly 16% of Qatar's Electricity demand, which currently has a installed capacity of 7000MW. Qatar's neighbors Saudi Arabia has plans to meet one third of its electricity demand with solar power by 2032, Dubai targets 5 percent of generation by 2030 and Abu Dhabi has set a target of 7% from renewable sources by 2020.
Both Solar thermal and PV technology will be utilized for the power generation of the plant. A venture of Qatar Development bank and Solar World AG (link), named QSTec (link) is expected to provide polysilicon, photovoltaic panels and also installation services.
Currently QSTec plant is capable of producing 8,000 metric tonnes per year (MTPY) of polysilicon and has been designed with future expansion in mind. The site is capable of expansion to produce more than 45,000 MTPY as well as having onsite facilities for ingoting, wafer, cell and module production.
