Qatar's Clean Energy Revolution: Sungrow's 800MWp PV Plant Driving Carbon Neutrality

This plant is the largest PV plant in Qatar and the third-largest single PV plant in the world It contributes to the country’s commitment to host a carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup in 2022

Technology Innovations

Effective heat dissipation perfectly adapts bifacial PV modules + tracking system

Located in the desert, with abundant sunshine resources and high ambient temperature this project adopts bifacial PV modules plus tracking systems

The reflectivity of sand is high, therefore, the power generation of the bifacial PV module’s backside will increase, coupled with the tracking system, the inverter will work at rated power for a long time at 50℃ ambient temperature This puts forward high requirements on the performance of the inverter

The Sungrow SG250HX inverter adopts intelligent air-cooling technology

The MV Station MVS6750-LV dissipates heat through the heat exchanger

Location

Capacity

Owner

IPP

EPC

Solution

Inverter

COD

Al-Kharsaa, Qatar

DC:800MWp AC:648MW

Kahramaa

Marubeni & Total PowerChina Guizhou Engineering

Bifacial PV modules + Tracking system + String inverter

Sungrow SG250HX

October 2022

Project Overview

Carbon neutrality has become a global consensus. Qatar announced a national vision of carbon neutrality by 2030 This 800MWp PV plant provides clean power at competitive prices and reduces dependence on fossil energy and carbon emissions in Qatar

Qatar is located on the southwest coast of the Persian Gulf, rich in natural gas and oil resources This 800MW PV plant is located 80 kilometers west of Doha Qatar is geomorphologically suitable for utility-scale PV plants with frequent sandstorms and 50 ℃ temperatures Construction is very difficult, and it also bring higher challenges to the stable operation of the inverter, transformer and other electrical equipment

System solution

Qatar 800MWp PV plant is divided into two phases. The first 400 MWp phase construction and grid connection was completed in 2021 The next 400 MWp was connected to the grid in 2022 The PV plant adopts bifacial PV modules and tracking systems There are 108 units of 6 75MW blocks in this plant and the DC/AC ratio is about 1 2 More than 1 8 million LONGi "HiMO 4" 440W bifacial PV modules were installed Sungrow provides 3240 1500V string inverter SG250HX and 96 MV Station MVS6750-LV

These technologies enable more efficient heat dissipation The inverter and MV Station can perfectly adapt bifacial PV modules + tracking systems in Qatar's hot and sandy environment and operate at rated power for a long time as required in this project Which in turn guarantees the owner's profit in the whole life cycle of the PV plant

High ingress protection grade adapts to the desert environment

The harsh environment of the desert has a significant impact on the inverter First, sand could lead to blockage in the heat dissipation channel, which deteriorates the heat dissipation and performance of the inverter The inverter could run derated resulting in reduced power generation. Second, sand entering the equipment can also affect the electrical insulation and even lead to internal short circuits

The inverter SG250HX adopts a double cavity design, where the electronic cavity and cooling cavity are entirely isolated The electronic cavity is fully sealed, sand and water cannot enter the electronic cavity As a result, the SG250HX inverter has achieved IP66 grade and can perform reliably in the desert environment.

Online I-V curve diagnosis improves O&M efficiency

The 800 MWp PV plant in Qatar has installed more than 1 8 million modules with more than 600,000 module strings During operation, many problems could occur: modules shielded by dust; panel breakage; PID attenuation, etc all result in power generation loss Traditional IV test requires professional equipment and PV plant downtime during on-site testing It is often necessary to find the problem manually after the fault detection is completed using a traditional method. This is time-consuming and expensive, which increases the difficulty of O&M SG250HX inverter integrates online smart I-V curve diagnosis function Through the DC current sensor configured in each PV string, the I-V data of PV modules can be collected by the monitoring system The health of the PV modules is analyzed online by advanced algorithms The monitoring system can locate the abnormal module and provide maintenance suggestions to O&M staff Online smart I-V curve diagnosis greatly improves O&M efficiency and reduces power generation loss of the PV plant

Summary

This 800MWp PV plant has great significance in Qatar It can provide 1 8 billion kWh of clean power every year, which can meet 10% of the country’s total electricity demand This plant will reduce 26 million tons of CO₂ during its lifetime, supporting the country’s goal of reducing carbon emissions by one million tons per year This project helps Qatar to achieve its national vision 2030 goal and contributed to the country’s commitment to host a carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup in 2022 It is key to achieving the goal of sustainable development and reducing the reliance on gas for power generation

Sunpure, leading full-scene PV intelligent cleaning robot and one-stop service provider

The Middle East is set to become a market leader in renewable energy Up to 90GW of renewable energy capacity, mainly solar and wind power, is planned across the MENA region over the next 10- 20 years

Yet harsh environment and desert climate pose challenges for PV projects. Vast deserts and various extreme climatic conditions are very likely to cause sand accumulation in the modules which will lead to soil loss The range of soil loss could be incredibly wide even though you manually clean the PV module rather often Why risk the loss of power generation when Sunpure is providing intelligent robotic cleaning solutions that could solve the problems?

Inherent advantages paired with customized solutions for the MENA

Sunpure’s intelligent PV cleaning solution has three main unique advantages in the MENA region:

Firstly, it is water-free cleaning, a fully automatic intelligent cleaning solution to make sure waterless operation;

Secondly, it is module friendly, and the cleaning brush can operate reliably whether in high or low temperatures, which is also anti-UV aging and can offer an effective solution to dust pollution;

Lastly, a local technical team provides a response service commitment within 48 hours.

Sunpure attaches great importance to the MENA market and has successfully delivered its products at various locations such as Red Sea and Rabigh in KSA, with a cumulative delivery of more than 1GW It’s a great honor that Sunpure has become an indispensable supplier of PV cleaning robots in this market For the next step, Sunpure will continue to engage the MENA market, accelerate the localization process, understand local demands, shorten the service response time and provide more costeffective services to serve clients in the MENA region

It is worth mentioning that Sunpure has recently launched a brand-new system -- SmartPure Cloud Platform Based on AI, Edge computing and IoT technology, the system provides PV power plant with an intelligent, convenient, efficient, and safe solution through intelligent methods such as remote monitoring and management, full-dimensional perception of the power plant site, one-stop access with intelligent equipment, and remote issuance of operation strategies to fully meet the management needs of administrators

In addition, Sunpure completed the Pre-A round of financing worth tens of millions of dollars in July 2022, led by GL Ventures The financing from well-known ventures is a significant milestone and favorable proof that the company will continue to grow steadily and healthily

About Sunpure

As the leading player in PV cleaning robot industry, Sunpure Technology specializes in R&D manufacturing sales and service. The product line covers PV railed、trackless cleaning robots and intelligent shuttles Based on the cloud platform and big data technology, the company has launched the SmartPure cloud platform to provide a full-scene intelligent cleaning solution for the industry

Up to now, Sunpure Technology has obtained over 130 patents and has the industry's first TUV Eyewitness Laboratory. Over 10 offices and service outlets in the Middle East, India, Latin America and China are set to create greater asset value for global customers Sunpure Technology has shipped PV Cleaning Robot for a cumulative 4 5GW globally, covering 12 countries