Image used for representation only.
Qatar government will soon start constructing Qatar’s largest Photovoltaics (PV) farm which will begin operating in 2020 with 200MW of capacity.
The UK’s leading website on green economy and environmental issues, businessgreen.com, has reported this in its recent report titled “Desert-proof solar? Why Qatar is leading the way.”
The report is based on an interview with QEERI’s Acting Executive Director, Dr Marwan Khraisheh. It further says that according to QEERI’s estimates, over the course of a year, just one square kilometre of land in the Qatar desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil.
Yet that potential for solar energy remains untapped largely due to two significant obstacles, dusty conditions coupled with the baking desert heat, which can reach up to 75C underneath solar panels in the summer and which can severely impair the energy efficiency of installations, Dr Marwan told BusinessGreen.
Therefore, Khraisheh says, Qatar’s mission is clear: “We need to develop solutions so we can facilitate the deployment of PV in the region on a wider scale.”
That isn’t to say solar farms aren’t already operating in deserts around the world of course. There are several major installations in southern areas of the US, as well across the Middle East and North Africa. However, it still only adds up to a few hundred megawatts of capacity in total, a tiny proportion of the potential generation from desert solar, while efficiency levels still leave room for improvement.
“Many of these desert solar farms also demand significant amounts of water to clean the panels from dust and to try and keep them cool enough to operate - a luxury even Qatar can ill afford on a large scale,” BusinessGreen writes.
Khraisheh is leading a team of more than 120 Qatari and international staff at QEERI to try and solve these dust, heat and water challenges with the aim of securing the country’s long-term energy needs, the website writes.
The Institute operates a 35,000sq metre Solar Test Facility in Doha where it tests solar panels from 27 companies, trialling a range of technologies to produce around 200kW of power from around 50 panels.
Here the team is also testing 16 types of coating and glass with the aim of developing self-cleaning panels, and while no solutions have been fully realised yet, Khraisheh hopes Qatar’s commitment to the research could make the country a global leader in solar expertise.
“It is not just one investment and that’s that,” he explains. “We are continuously funded by the Qatar Foundation, which has been putting in a lot of resources, investing hundreds of millions of dollars over the last 10-15 years to build the research infrastructure that will allow the Institute to really tackle these grand challenges. We’ve invested a lot in building test facilities and state of the art research labs looking at energy, water and the environment.”
International expertise is also key, says Khraisheh. “QEERI soon plans to launch an international solar test consortium, bringing in governments and businesses from around the world to further the development of desert solar, while it has also struck partnerships with Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale De Laussanne (EPFL) and Germany’s Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics.”
Expansion plan
But the immediate focus for QEERI is the government’s plan to soon start constructing Qatar’s largest PV farm. Scheduled to begin operating in 2020 with 200MW of capacity, the project includes an expansion plan for up to 500MW.
“They [the authorities] have already allocated the land and we are helping them with some technical specifications,” Khraisheh explains.
“Once they start breaking ground we can help them choose the best technology and assist them with cleaning methods. Hopefully in the future we can work with them and our external partners to develop a new desert panel, and the next farm will use some of these panels based on our work.”
When BusinessGreen asked whether large-scale solar farms could become a widespread source of power in extremely hot and dusty desert areas within the next five to 10 years?, Khraisheh replied: “Absolutely, I think even less than that.”
“We definitely face challenges to make solar more efficient, and while we’re working on technical innovation, there needs to be more business model innovation backed by new policies to drive these forward. But economically, right now people see solar as a new sector for the economy. It is good for the environment, good for the economy and it is growing businesses.”
