DOHA,
Sept 2: A large new solar plant planned in Qatar will double the Gulf
emirate's previously projected renewable energy capacity by 2030, Qatari
Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi announced on Sunday.
The
photovoltaic farm, which will be built in the Dukhan area some 80
kilometres (50 miles) west of the capital Doha, will increase the
gas-rich state's solar production capacity to four gigawatts by the end
of the decade, Kaabi said.
The plant "that will be established in
Dukhan area will produce 2,000 megawatts, which is twice more than the
capacity of Qatar's production of solar energy of the current projects,"
the minister, who is also chief executive of state-owned QatarEnergy,
said.
In October 2022, Qatar inaugurated its first large-scale
solar farm at al-Kharsaah, west of Doha. The emirate announced in August
of the same year another solar project with two plants at Ras Laffan in
the north.
Through the combined projects, including at Dukhan, Qatar would achieve "4,000 megawatts of clean energy by 2030", Kaabi said.
This
will "constitute 30 percent of the total production of energy of the
state of Qatar" with a yearly reduction of "4.7 million tonnes of CO2
emissions," he added.
Kaabi said the existing projects should produce 1.7 gigawatts of energy "in first quarter of next year, or early next year".
The
energy minister also announced plans to more than double Qatar's urea
production making the country the largest producer of the fertiliser in
the world by the end of the decade.
He said Qatar would
"maximise the production of chemical fertilisers" through "a complex
with global standards" which would "increase our production capacity
from 6 million tonnes annually to more than 12.4 million tonnes
annually".
Qatar is one of the world's top liquefied natural gas
producers alongside the United States, Australia and Russia. Natural gas
is a major ingredient in urea manufacturing.
In February, Qatar
announced plans to expand its output from its North Field project,
saying it will boost capacity to 142 million tonnes per year before
2030.
Over the past year, Qatar has inked a series of long-term
LNG deals with France's Total, Britain's Shell, India's Petronet,
China's Sinopec and Italy's Eni among others. —AFP