Here Comes The Sun

Qatar’s government plans to have 2% of its power output, 1.8 GW, accounted for by renewable resources by 2020, and Qatar Solar Energy has announced a three-phase plan to subsequently increase Qatar’s solar energy output to 2.5 GW per year.

These plans have come one step closer to fruition with the unveiling of a state-of-the-art solar-panel factory in Ras Laffan Industrial City in June 2014, producing photovoltaic cells with singularly efficient solar energy yields—demonstrating Qatar’s commitment both to the alternative energy sector and to being on the cutting edge of renewable technology.

This would not be the first such demonstration; in 2012, Qatar inaugurated the first world-class solar test facility at the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP), as result of collaboration between QSTP, GreenGulf and Chevron to test emerging solar technologies from around the world in order to identify those best suited to the climate of the Gulf region.

The cells being produced by this initiative are setting a new benchmark for the economic sustainability of solar power in Qatar; the state-of-the-art solar panels take about 12 months to produce the same amount of energy required to be manufactured, and can then be expected continue producing solar energy for another 25-30 years.

This is a crucial, and prudent trend in Qatar’s energy sector. According to studies conducted by the United Nations Environmental Programme, a single square kilometre of land in Qatar receives as much solar energy in one year as is contained in 1.5 million barrels of oil—and unlike 1.5 million barrels of oil, solar energy isn’t exhaustible.

In line with Qatar National Vision 2030, which stresses the importance of addressing environmental concerns and diversifying Qatar’s hydrocarbon-heavy energy sector, the solar-panel facility aims to reduce Qatar’s dependence on fossil fuels. At present estimates, the facility will produce 8,000 tons per annum of high-grade polysilicon for export to the world’s solar energy markets, which have seen exponential growth in the past decade.

The facility will reinforce local photo voltaic systems, too; the recently completed Solar Smart-Grid Project at Education City has seen the Qatar Foundation (QF) install 1.68MW of photovoltaic systems, powering a range of buildings across the QF campus, and the Foundation has restated plans to increase the use of renewable energy throughout all Education City facilities. The Smart-Grid also constitutes a pilot project for Texas A&M at the University of Qatar, which seeks to expand projects for “integrating electricity and information and communication infrastructures to produce electricity more efficiently and reliably, as well as cleanly and safely for the environment.”

Demand for the kinds of cells being produced at Ras Laffan will increase further in the coming years, as Qatar continues its process of powering its desalination plants with clean solar electricity, which will have the added effect of reducing strain on Qatar’s nearly-depleted aquifers; indeed, Qatar’s ministry proposal to invest $125 million over the next five years in projects designed to secure, improve and increase the country’s supply of water for both drinking and irrigation. Solar power plays a crucial part in these ventures.

Further ahead, with Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, plans exist to have the new air-conditioned stadiums draw the greater portion of their energy load from a 100 MW grid of photovoltaic and solar thermal panels, in keeping with the country’s pledge to cleave as close to a carbon-neutral World Cup as possible.

Qatar’s own solar needs promise to make the investment in photovoltaic cell production a profitable one — and even if they didn’t, international solar demand would provide a growing export market. Reports from the Solar GCC Alliance indicate that investment in renewable resources has been increased by a factor of eighteen over the past decade, from $5bn spent in 2003 to $93 billion today. The Deutsche Bank suggests that in spite of falling oil prices, this trend in increasing demand for solar energy can be expected to continue apace in the coming year—which can only be good news for the dawn of Qatar’s solar industry.