(qatarconstructionnews: by Farwa Zahra): Qatar’s sun-rich environment provides the ideal host for solar projects. With opportunities, however, come some tough questions on viability of solar panels and the lack of professionals here. Speaking with sustainability experts, QCN’s editor Farwa Zahra addresses these issues among some other concerns.

For the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), solar is the most abundant form of clean energy that can be capitalised on to meet its growing energy demand. But is the region sufficiently exploiting its natural resources? Ostensibly, governments in the region are well aware of solar’s potential. In 2015 alone, the value of awarded contracts for reusable energy projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region reached USD7.7 billion (QAR28 billion), representing a 450 percent increase from USD1.4 billion (QAR5.1 billion) in 2014, reported Meed. 

The rise in renewable energy projects also meant their share increased to 24 percent of the total power generation projects awarded during 2015. A key focus of sustainable power generation projects was linked to solar energy, followed by wind and more conventional hydropower. In fact, 58 percent of renewable projects awarded comprised solar utilities. 

Compared to the neighbouring GCC states, Qatar still has to grow its renewables sector as a part of its development drive towards the 2022 World Cup and Qatar National Vision 2030. Giving a comparative analysis of the region, Salman Zafar, founder of EcoMENA, says, “Qatar has been a bit slow in joining the solar energy bandwagon, though the government has a highly ambitious target of 1.8GW by 2020.” At the end of 2015, he adds, the installed solar capacity in the country was a measly 10 megawatts (MW). 

“Depletion of fossil fuel reserves, transition to low-carbon economy and adoption of sustainable development goals are major motivations for Qatar to embrace solar energy.” – Salman Zafar, founder, EcoMENA.

In contrast, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have current installed solar capacities of 100MW and 50MW, respectively. Both countries, Zafar says, have several large-scale solar power projects in development stages. On the other end of the spectrum are Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, lagging far behind in the renewable energy sector.

According to Khaled A’amar, general manager at Al Emadi Solar, Saudi Arabia will soon become the region’s largest market for solar. “In other parts of the GCC where there are regulatory pressures or opportunities to secure financial incentives, the interest and roll-out is greater,” says Dr. Neil Kirkpatrick, head of sustainability, Middle East, for
Faithful+Gould. Drawing examples from Abu Dhabi, he explains that Estidama Pearl Rating System, a government-owned building and community rating system linked to the planning process, includes mandatory requirements to ensure that a proportion of the energy supply for hot water generation for villas is provided by renewable energy. With no such mandate in Qatar, Kirkpatrick says, “Faithful+Gould is only recently beginning to see leaders and pioneers emerge both in the public and private sector where we are being asked to explore the possibility of incorporating renewable energy solutions.”

Growth opportunities

As a country with significant reserves of hydrocarbons – readily available at low rates – it comes as no surprise that a large part of Qatar’s energy demands are met via conventional sources. Nevertheless, sustainability experts believe the region’s newfound inclination towards solar and renewables is a product of a few key factors which include reduction in the cost of implementing solar technologies, increasing demand as a result of growing population, and the government’s active stance on saving natural resources. As one of the major generators of greenhouse gas emissions, Mounir Bensegueni, Middle East business development director, OCS Group International – a subsidiary of Tadmur Holding – says, solar power generation development falls within Qatar National Vision 2030.“Leaders in the construction industry are starting to explore the possibilities of benefitting from the use of renewable energy solutions. We believe this has been driven by a sustained reduction in the prices of renewable energy solutions as well as the continued development of new products entering the marketplace,” says Kirkpatrick. Providing some statistics on the cost of solar panels, Luc Graré, REC’s senior vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says, “During the last six years, global PV system costs decreased by half. By 2020, a further decrease of 40 percent is expected, and will reach a global average of five to eight USD cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).”

Summarising Qatar’s motivation to use solar energy, Zafar says, “Depletion of fossil fuel reserves, transition to low-carbon economy and adoption of sustainable development goals are major motivators for Qatar to embrace solar energy in industrial, institutional and domestic sectors.”

Projects

In capitalising on the current opportunities to grow Qatar’s solar sector, a lot will depend on the willingness of the country’s construction sector. According to Zafar, “Qatar’s global horizontal irradiance is 2140 kWh per square metre per year which makes it well-suited for rooftop solar PV systems. However, the construction sector is yet to capitalise on it as the country is lacking a coherent off-grid and on-grid renewable energy policy and feed-in-tariff mechanism.” That said, considering the fact that Qatar’s government has indicated to mandate green construction over the coming years, it makes more sense for contractors and clients to be proactive in their move from conventional to sustainable construction, a large part of which will comprise solar.  

Among some current projects using solar as a major source of energy is Qatar National Convention Centre. With gold rating as per LEED standards, the facility is equipped with 3500 square metres of solar panels which meets 12.5 percent of the centre’s energy needs. Apart from solar rooftop installations, the higher percentage of energy conservation is also achieved by energy-efficient LED lighting system. 

Another such project is the recently launched Evergreen Building built in accordance with Energy City Qatar Design Guidelines. Explaining its solar features, Bensegueni says that the project’s design-and-build features enhance energy saving through PV solar cells installed on top of the circular structures of the building used to generate electric power which shall bring “energy saving of up to 15 to 20 percent of the lighting load on the common areas and the sub-ground car parking as well as the central domestic hot water system”.

On the infrastructure side, Qatar Railways Company is working towards maximising the use of solar technologies for energy conservation, working closely with Global Sustainability Assessment System that provides specific guidelines for green rail projects. In July 2014, the company signed a memorandum of understand with Qatar Solar Technologies for the installation of up to 80MW of solar technology across its various rail projects underway in Qatar. Summarising Qatar Rail’s interest in exploring solar solution, Engineer Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Turki Al Subaie, managing director and chairman of the executive committee of Qatar Rail, told media, “Solar energy development is one of the main green aspects of our project.” 

Driven mostly by government projects, as solar energy makes inroads in Qatar’s construction practices, experts believe encouraging independent power producers (IPPs) will boost the scope of solar in Qatar. 

Challenges

With opportunities also come challenges that Qatar needs to be prepared for. With the concept of solar technologies new for the country, having experts in the field can be a major issue. Speaking about some turnkey solar projects in the GCC, Graré explains the cost of solar is higher compared to European states. A major factor behind this cost differential is linked to the shortage of expertise. “As an emerging region for solar, the local installation expertise is lower than in countries like Germany, hence more labour resources are required to complete installation,” he says, adding that the costs for components are also three to four times higher in states such as Dubai, reflecting transportation costs and custom duty of five percent.

Seemingly, Qatar’s sun-rich environment provides the ideal host for solar projects. In reality, however, the country’s arid desert climate also contains high amounts of dust, thereby increasing both frequency and proportion of soiling on PV modules and solar mirrors. Research work by experts at Boston University suggests that the problem of soiling is linked to decreasing yield of these panels. Another performance limiting factor relevant to Qatar’s environment is the region’s high temperature, which has also shown deteriorating results on solar panels. Ultraviolet radiation, atmospheric salinity and dust accumulation, Bensegueni says, have a direct and significant impact on the performance of PV modules and their lifespan. 

While soiling can be curtailed by increasing the altitude of panels, strong winds in the region pose another hindrance in doing so. When asked about optical panel contamination, Kirkpatrick agrees that dust and sustained high temperatures are invariably cited as potential issues and challenges when using PV cells or solar thermal water heating. Designed to perform better within a clean air climate, the solar cells’ performance is further reduced due to the lack of rain in the region, says Bensegueni, adding that “it is quite expensive and operationally challenging to maintain a dust-free condition of the solar panels due to the cost of water produced from desalination process.” That said, according to Kirkpatrick, “New materials are being developed to decrease the accumulation of dust as well as to safeguard against a decrease in performance at higher temperatures.” 

“Leaders in the construction industry are starting to explore the possibilities of benefitting from the use of renewable energy solutions.” – Dr. Neil Kirkpatrick, head of sustainability, Middle East, for Faithful+Gould.

Indeed, with the advancement of solar technologies, companies are now introducing self-cleaning solar systems. For existing panels, there are panel cleaning devices being introduced in the market. In Saudi Arabia, the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology has developed a panel cleaning system called the NO-water Mechanical Automated Dusting Device (NOMADD). Requiring zero manual input, NOMADD can clean 99.6 percent of dust from panels, and can be retrofitted or deployed during the design stage. To ensure these systems work efficiently, Kirkpatrick emphasises the importance of involving facility managers in technical aspects of the building before its handover. 

For Zafar, the largest barrier to growth of solar sector in Qatar lies in the lack of renewable energy policy framework, legislations, institutional support, feed-in-tariffs and grid access, “Qatar requires a strong, visionary and coherent renewable energy policy as well as a flagship initiative, like Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City, to accelerate its emergence in regional as well as global cleantech arena.”

Another obvious challenge is subsidised energy prices. “With heavily subsidised electricity and falling oil and gas prices, the comparison between renewable energy solutions and conventional, fossil fuel-based solutions, becomes more challenging,” says Kirkpatrick. Zafar expresses similar concerns, explaining that solar power systems are still considered to be highly expensive for Qatar, which has abundant and cheap supply of fossil fuels for power generation. In consensus, Bensegueni says that despite the reduction in installation cost of PV panels over the last few years, the price differential is still significant. “The kilowatt hour of solar energy produced by PV technology costs almost double of that of electricity extracted from natural gas,” he says.

According to the International Renewable Energy Authority (IRENA), by 2020, MENA’s investment on renewables will reach USD35 billion (QAR127 billion) per year. GCC’s solar, alone, will represent a share of USD10 billion (QAR364 billion), reports Frost & Sullivan. For Qatar, a part of its target this year will be achieved when operations start at Kahramaa’s first solar power facility with a generation capacity of up to 15MW, as announced by the state-run company last year. By 2020, the company aims to reach a target of 200MW solar power. Citing IRENA’s 2016 report, Ahmed Imam, director of business development, Solar Business, MENA Schneider Electric, says, “The Qatari government aims to produce 20 percent of its energy capacity from renewable sources by 2030,” adding that solar is anticipated to be a critical part of this mission. This, Imam explains, can be realised with the state’s support in terms of rising awareness on energy management and environmental protection, along with investment in solar research and development. Indicating a promising trend in Qatar construction practices, Kirkpatrick mentions contractors’ growing interest in renewables with a different perspective, “Contractors are starting to take a long-term perspective where they are looking at renewable energy solutions from the viewpoint of asset management. For instance, contractors [are looking at how they can] use the same renewable energy equipment on successive projects much like a contractor might do when using heavy lifting equipment, etcetera.

For Qatar, the year 2016 started with a memorandum of understanding signed between Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Electricity & Water Company, preparing to establish a solar company. Recently, Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute announced its ongoing works on a second generation of energy-efficient solar cells.

In terms of motivation, Kirkpatrick sees a marked interest in the development and implementation of strategies to reduce carbon emissions. “This is being led mainly by the public sector where opportunities exist to make massive changes linked to the construction of new infrastructure and public buildings, not forgetting of course, the buildings and infrastructure being developed to help support and facilitate the FIFA World Cup 2022,” he concludes. Indeed, with right direction and continued support, Qatar can achieve what currently looks like ambitious target.

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