Qatar awards contract for two utility-scale solar power plants

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• South Korea’s Samsung C&T awarded the contract for $632m project
• Project will result in a reduction of more than 28 million tons of CO2

Qatar Energy’s wholly owned subsidiary, QatarEnergy Renewable Solutions, has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for its industrial cities (IC) solar power project to South Korea’s Samsung C&T, the company said in a statement.

The QR 2.3 billion ($632 million) solar project consists of two large-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar power plants with a combined capacity of 875 megawatts (MW). 

This is the second utility-scale solar project in Qatar besides Al Kharsaa Solar PV Power Plant, which is currently under construction.

The project’s power generation capacity will be distributed between the two main industrial cities – Mesaieed Industrial City and Ras Laffan Industrial City, which will take the country’s solar output to 1.67 gigawatts by the end of 2024. 

The Mesaieed plant will have a capacity of 417 MW, while the one in Ras Laffan will have a capacity of 458 MW. The two plants, covering a combined area of 10 square kilometres, are expected to start electricity production by the end of 2024.

The solar project will result in a direct emissions reduction of more than 28 million tons of CO2 over its lifetime. The output of both plants will reduce QatarEnergy’s greenhouse gas (GHG) footprints and expand grid capacity in other locations.

QatarEnergy’s sustainability strategy has set a mid-term target of 5 GW of solar-generated power by 2035, the statement said.