Al-Hamadi cutting a ribbon to mark the opening of Power Qatar Summit yesterday as al-Mohannadi and al-Marri look on. PICTURE: Jayan Orma

The country’s ambitious plans and initiatives to develop and promote renewable energy sources in the future were highlighted by two officials from Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) at the opening session of the Power Qatar Summit yesterday.
Kahramaa officials Abdul Azeez al-Hamadi and Saleh Hamad al-Marri elaborated on Qatar’s plans to make use of the extreme summer months so that some of its solar plans could be achieved smoothly over the next decade.
Al-Hamadi, manager of conservation and energy efficiency, said the corporation was working on plans to use the energy generated in the country in a more wise and effective manner.
While planning and developing solar facilities in Qatar, those concerned have set a systematic plan to eventually reduce greenhouse gas emissions considerably from the current power generation systems and channels.
“Along with reducing considerable emissions, better utilisation of solar energy may also help the country eventually make considerable financial savings in the long run,” said al-Hamadi, while hoping that a significant share of the energy generated in Qatar in future would be from its solar facilities.
The engineer said by 2040, all the existing electricity generation stations of Qatar would have reached their capacities and before that the country would have generated adequate power from solar facilities to meet its needs and requirements.
The Kahramaa official hoped that before 2040, at least 50% of the total share of renewable energy generated in the country would be from solar and other options.
Speaking later, al-Marri, who heads renewable energy technologies, said while there was no doubt that renewable energy would be the real alternative to conventional electricity in countries across the region, even a minor miscalculation and forecasting in the financing plans could adversely affect its development.
Qatar has identified about 30 locations where adequate solar energy could be generated in future. It would require no less than 2mn sqm of land to generate solar energy at the country’s current targets. Qatar is expected to produce 200mw of solar electricity before 2020, according to the country’s ongoing plans.
To generate 1mw of solar energy, at least 17,000sqm of land is required, he said. Al-Marri added that studies have found that no less than 1.7mn sqm of land is needed for building a 100 mw solar plant.
However, there are a number of hurdles for the construction of solar facilities everywhere, including in Qatar. The foremost obstacle is the financing plan.
The official also singled out a prominent case of miscalculation in the US where the producers ended up spending more than triple the amount in the end than what they had planned in the beginning. There is also enormous difficulty in assessing its real benefits, he said.
Earlier, the two-day summit was inaugurated by al-Hamadi in the presence of Qatar Electricity and Water Company general manager Fahd Mohamed al-Mohannadi.