Qatar has taken another step towards a sustainable future as Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani inaugurated Al Kharsaah Solar PV Power Plant (KSPP) yesterday, which will add 800MW of environment-friendly electricity into the national grid, thus reducing the carbon footprint significantly.
The KSPP plant is one of the largest in the region in terms of size and capacity. It occupies an area of 10sqkm and has more than 1,800,000 solar panels and uses the latest technology to achieve maximum production efficiency. This solar plant will also cut greenhouse gas emissions by millions of tonnes every year.
This plant will help Qatar’s efforts toward achieving one of the sustainability targets of having 5 GW of solar-generated power by 2035. Two more mega solar plants are expected to start production by end of 2024. Two large-scale photovoltaic solar power plants are being built in Mesaieed Industrial City and Ras Laffan Industrial City and will have capacities of 417 MW and 458 MW respectively. Other green projects, on the road to sustainability, include those Siraj Energy, a joint venture between QatarEnergy and QEWC, signed last year with Qatar Foundation and WOQOD to power their facilities using photovoltaic energy.
Yesterday also saw the inauguration of Lusail Bus Depot, believed to be the world’s largest electric bus depot, which relies on solar energy for power to charge the electric buses and feed the buildings. It has installed some 11,000 PV solar panels to generate 4 MW of power daily. All these efforts will make Qatar’s transformation to a sustainable future with fewer emissions faster and smoother.
World over people have been discussing climate change and the need to increase sustainable methods to produce energy and the urgent need for cutting greenhouse gas emissions as many parts of the world are witnessing catastrophic weather conditions like sudden heavy downpours causing disastrous floods and powerful typhoons destroying entire towns.
While many nations have been discussing how to move forward, Qatar has already made tremendous progress in making the future greener and leaving the environment healthier for future generations by adopting various steps like promoting renewable energy and changing the transport fleet from fossil fuels to electric at a very fast pace.
Qatar is already playing a lead role in Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius by increasing the production of LNG as it represents an excellent alternative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by oil and coal. Using more LNG in industry and transportation around the world will help mitigate, to an extent, the negative impact of other fossil fuels.
