The problem
Qatar has some of the strongest sunshine on earth — over 2,000 kWh per square metre a year — yet until 2022 essentially all of its electricity came from natural gas. Summer peaks kept climbing while the state pledged to cut the carbon intensity of its power sector.
How it works
Siraj (1), a subsidiary of QatarEnergy Renewable Solutions (fully owned by QatarEnergy, holding 60% of the project), built the Al Kharsaah plant west of Doha with TotalEnergies and Marubeni: about 2 million Longi bifacial modules on single-axis trackers across the desert, feeding the grid since June 2022 and formally switched on that October.
Pain points
A gas-only grid with no utility-scale solar experience, dust and extreme heat degrading panel performance, and energy-intensive industrial cities at Ras Laffan and Mesaieed demanding new clean capacity.
Business model
Classic IPP economics: a 25-year power purchase agreement with utility KAHRAMAA pays for every kilowatt-hour delivered, turning desert land and cheap capital into decades of contracted cash flow.
Challenges
The plant sells to a single state buyer; soiling and heat constantly tax output; and with domestic gas nearly free, each expansion — Ras Laffan, Mesaieed, now the 2 GW Dukhan build — must prove its tariff against the cheapest fossil alternative.
Funding
- Raised: project-level financing details undisclosed (MISSING).
- Valuation: MISSING.
Latest — September 2025
On 30 September 2025 a GCC Interconnection Authority delegation toured Al-Kharsaah — still Qatar’s flagship 800 MW plant — as QatarEnergy pressed on with the Ras Laffan and Mesaieed additions (875 MW combined, doubling national solar to 1,675 MW) and construction of the Dukhan plant toward 4,000 MW of solar capacity.