A delegation from the Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) and participants in a workshop on renewable energy reliability visited the Al-Kharsaah solar power plant in Qatar. The visit took place during the “Assessing of Reliability of Renewable Energy Sources in the Cooperation Council Countries” workshop, which was organized by GCCIA in Doha.
The Al-Kharsaah solar power plant is operated by Siraj (1), a subsidiary of QatarEnergy Renewable Solutions, which is fully owned by QatarEnergy. During the visit, attendees learned about the operation, maintenance, and production technologies used at Al-Kharsaah, which is Qatar’s first solar plant.
The 800-megawatt Al-Kharsaah facility began supplying electricity to Qatar’s national grid in June 2022. Since then, QatarEnergy has added two more plants—Ras Laffan and Mesaieed—with a combined capacity of 875 megawatts. These additions have increased Qatar’s total renewable electricity production capacity to 1,675 megawatts. Construction is underway for the Dukhan solar power plant, which will further increase capacity to over 4,000 megawatts.
QatarEnergy established its renewable solutions subsidiary in 2017 to finance, build, operate, and maintain solar facilities and manage electricity sales from these projects within Qatar. The company holds a majority stake of 60% in Siraj (1).
The GCCIA oversees the regional electricity interconnection project among Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
