PowerChina contributes green energy to World Cup 2022

Eighteen days into the Qatar World Cup 2022, as half of the world population is watching the once-in-four-year sports mega-event after a long pause of entertainment activities from the pandemic, some have also got a glimpse of the whizzy infrastructure built for the carnival.

From the state-of-art Lusail Stadium where the final of the 2022 World Cup would take place, to every ray of light illuminating the football pitch, to the new energy buses that carry fans through the streets, it’s not hard to find Chinese companies behind these green projects. Among them, the Al Kharsaah 800MW Solar Power Plant, the first non-fossil fuel power station in Qatar constructed by PowerChina represents the country’s efforts in hosting a Green World Cup.

According to PowerChina, the plant generates 3.6 million kW·h of green electricity on a daily basis, accounting for 6 percent of Qatar’s total capacity.

The plant, taking a size of about 1,400 football fields, is the world’s largest photovoltaic project using a tracking system and bifacial modules, and the third largest independent solar power plant in the world so far.

Along the road inside the solar park, the photovoltaic panels on either side glowed faintly blue. With a slight noise, as if they had heard some command, they raised their heads in unison, and the panels, which were sloped heavily, slowly changed an Angle.

“We have adopted the new technology of tracking brackets to track the sun’s Angle of incidence throughout the day to improve the efficiency of power generation. Besides, the panels are also double-sided to collect ground reflection,” Mr.Yang Guoya, Deputy Construction Manager-PV of PowerChina told China Economic Net.

The natural environment of the construction site is challenging. Relentless sandstorms sweeping the land all year round have resulted in a huge amount of dust every day, which confines the capacity of components to absorb light irradiation and reduce power generation. If not cleaned in time, the loss of power generation caused by dust can be as high as 30 to 40 percent.

In this condition, PowerChina employs automated dry-cleaning robots. According to Yang Guoya, the robot uses a black rolling brush to clean the dust on the surface of the components. With the exquisite design of the motion of the brush, the dust can be removed on time and increase power generation by 20 percent.

“Our Chinese colleagues are very professional. It was great to work with them in my first experience with a renewable energy project and learn how to design a solar power plant and integrate it into the existing grid,” said senior OA/OC Engineer- Coordinator & SCADA Engineer Santosh Nazir.

The ecological environment in the desert zone is fragile, and damage once made will cause irreversible consequences, therefore it is particularly important to protect the biodiversity.

To reduce the project’s impact on the environment, PowerChina not only worked with a local environmental service provider to make a detailed relocation plan for animals and plants but also established a mechanism for the conservation and recycling of energy resources, ensuring environmental protection throughout the construction process.

More importantly, it’s estimated the plant will avoid CO2 emissions of Qatar by about 4 million tonnes in 2022-2024, and 26 million tons over the course of the project life cycle, which will have a far-reaching impact on Qatar’s pursuit of carbon neutrality.

For several years, China has been at the center of global supply and demand for renewable energy. By the end of 2020, China’s installed renewable energy capacity accounted for one-third of the world’s total. Since the Middle East countries are mostly in the sunny zone, ideal for developing photovoltaic energy, there will be huge potentials for China and Middle East countries to deepen clean energy cooperation.