Distributed Energy

Siemens deploying Microgrid for Qatar Solar panel production plant

March 14, 2022

It will be powered by a variety of resources, including solar energy, battery storage, back-up generators and the local grid. Solar power could contribute as much as 1 MW in generating capacity

Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor

German technology giant Siemens will deliver what it called the Middle East’s first microgrid for industrial use.

Qatar Solar Energy is contracting with Siemens on the project, planning it to help reduce electricity costs and cut greenhouse gas emissions at its solar panel factory in Doha.

Siemens will also provide control system, software and components for the microgrid. It will be powered by a variety of resources, including solar energy, battery storage, back-up generators and the local grid.

Solar power could contribute as much as 1 MW in generating capacity, according to the release.

“QSE is committed to providing innovate products that will accelerate the adoption of renewable energy in Qatar and around the world,” company Chairman Salim Abbassi said in a statement. “By deploying this microgrid from Siemens, we will prove that clean power is reliable and affordable at an industrial scale.”

Global Executives: The C&I Energy Transition is a marathon, not a sprint

Siemens and QSE qualify this microgrid project as a first for industrial application in the Middle East and contend it will offer a model for other companies in the region to cut energy costs and improve sustainability.

“This project will be a showcase for Siemens to demonstrate its grid edge capabilities and the value it brings to industrial customers and buildings by helping them to lower energy costs, rein in carbon emissions and ensure a more dependable power supply,” said Helmut von Struve, the CEO of Siemens in the Middle East. “We look forward to helping QSE enhance its operations by leveraging the many benefits of microgrids.”

Siemens will provide the microgrid's control panel, power meters, photovoltaic inverters and Siemens software for Distributed Energy Optimization (DEOP) to monitor the network's energy flow.

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(Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can reached at [email protected]).

About the Author

Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World.

EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.