Four mammoth new solar projects are under development in the Middle East, with a 2GW solar project proposed for Qatar, and three projects worth a cumulative 5.5GW securing financing in Saudi Arabia.
State-owned petroleum company QatarEnergy announced over the weekend that it will build a 2GW solar power plant, doubling the country’s total solar capacity in one fell swoop.
Set to be built in the Dukhan area in the country’s west, the project is expected to increase Qatar’s solar capacity to around 4GW by 2030 – indicating that the project is expected to begin operations by the end of the decade.
QatarEnergy already operates the 800MW Al-Kharsaah solar power plant, which was inaugurated in 2022, and is building two additional solar projects in the industrial cities of Ras Laffan and Mesaieed with a combined capacity of 875MW, which are both expected to begin operations before the end of the year.
Once all projects are up and running by the end of the decade, QatarEnergy expects its solar capacity to provide approximately 30 per cent of the country’s total electricity generation capacity.
“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,” said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Qatari Energy Minister who is also the president and CEO of QatarEnergy.
“I would like to emphasize 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 4.7 million tons per annum.”
Qatar’s plans, however, pale in comparison to the three projects which have secured financing in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabian energy giant ACWA Power announced on Sunday that it had secured financing for three large-scale solar PV projects worth a total of SAR9.7 billion, or around $A8.3 billion.
The Haden and Muwayh solar projects will each measure in at 2GW, while the Al Khushaybi will sit at 1.5GW. The Haden and Muwayh plants will be built in the Makkah region, and the Al Khushaybi plant in the Qassim region, with all three to be jointly owned by ACWA Power, the Water and Electricity Holding Company (Badeel), a wholly owned company by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Saudi Aramco Power Company (SAPCO).
All three companies announced in June the signing of power purchase agreements with the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) for power from the three solar projects.
Financing for the three projects secured this week was signed by each project’s respective company from a consortium of local, regional, and international banks including Banque Saudi Fransi, Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, Mizuho Bank, Riyad Bank, Saudi National Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank.
While Saudi Arabia’s solar capacity stood at around 2.3GW at the end of 2023, the country is aiming to source at least half of its electricity from renewable energy sources by the end of the decade.
