Japanese banks back world’s second cheapest solar project
Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation has announced financial close on the 800 MW Siraj-1 solar project with Mizuho Bank and the state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The project, secured in a tender by France’s Total and Japan’s Marubeni, will sell power for $0.01449/kWh.
Qatar’s 800 MW tender draws world record solar power price of $0.01567/kWh
Utility Kahramaa has revealed the winning consortium initially offered $0.01745/kWh with the price then reduced based on financial market indices.
Total and Marubeni win Qatar’s 800 MW solar tender
The resulting project will sell power to Qatar General Electricity and Water Corp under a 25-year power supply deal. French oil and gas giant Total and Japanese conglomerate Marubeni will hold a combined 40% stake in the power plant, which will be built near Doha, the Qatari capital.
Does slew of solar mega tenders mean Gulf nations are belatedly accepting the inevitable?
With Kuwait, Qatar and even renewables laggard Saudi Arabia following in the wake of regional clean energy pioneer the UAE, a raft of huge solar tenders is entering the Middle Eastern project pipeline. Obstacles remain to overseas project developers but significant rewards are on offer.
Qatari utility mulls jump to 800 MW tender as consortia submit bids
A consortium led by Jinko Power and Korea Electric Power Corp., as well as another group led by Japanese conglomerate Marubeni and French energy group Total, have submitted bids for Qatar’s 700 MW solar tender. The final results will be announced in September.
Qatar pre-qualifies 16 bidders for 500 MW solar tender
Among the pre-selected bidders are big European players, such as Enel, Total and Engie, and big solar manufacturers including JinkoSolar, Hanwha Q Cells and GCL. Further bids have come from big Japanese conglomerates, and companies from Spain, Germany, South Korea and Turkey. The first 350 MW phase of the large-scale solar park is expected to come online by the end of 2020.
Qatar’s Nebras enters Dutch solar market
The Qatar-based investment firm has agreed to acquire a 75% stake in Netherlands-based Zon Exploitatie Nederland Holding B.V. (ZEN). The Dutch company owns a PV plant porftfolio of around 96 MW.
Scientists add new layer to perovskite
A team led by Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne has developed a low-dimensional perovskite layer it says can be used as a capping layer on perovskite solar cell material, improving stability and water resistance. The team reports a 20% efficient cell incorporating the material.
QSTec begins manufacturing activities at polysilicon factory in Qatar
The Qatar-based polysilicon manufacturer has begun producing polysilicon at its factory in Doha. The facility has a current annual production capacity of 8,000 MT, but QSTec confirmed its plans to expand it to 50,000 MT.
