TotalEnergies, a French energy company, has inaugurated its Al Kharsaah solar facility in Doha, Qatar, and connected it to the national grid. The 800 MW solar facility, located 80 km west of Doha, is the region’s first large-scale solar photovoltaic plant. The facility was built by TotalEnergies in partnership with QatarEnergy and Marubeni. Reportedly, the solar installation, which has a 1,000ha surface area, has two million bifacial modules installed on single-axis trackers. During its lifespan, it has an ability to eliminate 26 million tonnes of carbon emissions and provide 10 per cent of Qatar’s peak energy requirements.
Al Kharsaah is developed and operated by Siraj 1, a company that is owned by TotalEnergies, Marubeni, and QatarEnergy Renewable Solutions. A partnership between TotalEnergies and Marubeni holds 40 per cent of Siraj 1, while QatarEnergy owns the remaining 60 per cent. Siraj 1 and the power grid operator Kahramaa have signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the solar project.
In August 2022, TotalEnergies and Eneos gained approval to form a joint venture to develop 2 GW of business-to-business solar projects in Asia over the next five years. The TotalEnergies ENEOS Renewables Distributed Generation Asia Joint Venture was first launched in April 2022.
