LNG

TotalEnergies and Middle East partner QatarEnergy have inaugurated a huge solar energy project linked to Qatar’s LNG expansion and the various joint ventures set up for the North Field East and North Field South liquefaction and export projects.

Al Kharsaah solar power plant was developed by TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy along with a third partner, the Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp.

The inauguration ceremony was led by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, as the project started up and was connected to the Qatari national electricity grid.

The Al Kharsaah facility is located 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of the Qatari capital Doha and is the first such renewable facility in the Arabian Gulf state..

The plant with capacity of 800 megawatts was built on a 1,000-hectare site, equivalent to an area of 1,400 soccer pitches and containing 2 million high-efficiency bifacial modules mounted on single-axis trackers.

Al Kharsaah can supply 10 percent of the country's peak power consumption and will avoid 26 million tons of carbon-dioxide emissions during its lifetime as Qatar itself expands its LNG output from just under 80 million tonnes per annum currently to 126 MTPA by 2027.

Analysts said the Qatari solar project underpins pledges made by leading global LNG producers and stakeholders to pursue renewables in a sensible way while keeping natural gas flowing to guarantee essential energy services.

Support role

“After our recent entry into the giant LNG projects NFE and NFS alongside QatarEnergy, we are proud to announce the start-up of the Al Kharsaah solar plant,” said the Paris-based oil and gas major.

“This giant project, which contributed to the sustainability roadmap of Qatar, demonstrates once again TotalEnergies' ability to support producing countries in their energy transition by combining natural gas production and solar energy to meet the growing demand for electricity,” declared Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and Chief Executive of TotalEnergies.

“This is another milestone in our long-standing and trustful relationship with QatarEnergy, also bringing us closer to our goal of 35 gigawatts of production capacity by 2025,” added Pouyanné.

The power plant is operated by the Siraj 1 joint venture, which is jointly owned 40 percent by a consortium comprising TotalEnergies (49 percent) and Marubeni (51 percent) and with the 60 percent balance held by QatarEnergy Renewable Solutions.

Power purchase deal

The project includes a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement between Siraj 1 and the Qatari power grid operator Kahramaa.

The inauguration of the Al Kharsaah plant with capacity of 800 megawatts follows the recent selection of TotalEnergies as QatarEnergy's first international partner for the NFE liquefaction plant expansion after already signing up for the NFS venture.

Participation in these projects will enable TotalEnergies to add production to its global LNG portfolio by 2028, in line with the company's goal of increasing the share of natural gas in its sales mix to 50 percent by 2030,” explained TotalEnergies.

The Al Kharsaah start-up follows QatarEnergy's recent announcement of a second solar project for the Ras Laffan and Mesaieed industrial cities, also supported by TotalEnergies.

“With 900 MW of installed capacity, this second project would be another landmark venture in QatarEnergy's strategy to reduce the carbon footprint of its facilities by 2030 and to develop 5 gigawatts of renewable power generation capacity by 2035,” stated the French major.

QatarEnergy has selected French major TotalEnergies as the first international partner for the second part of its LNG expansion known as the North Field South (NFS) liquefaction venture.