Qatar’s efforts to build its solar industry are being hampered by problems with project scale and desert dust, according to former energy minister Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, who also chairs Qatar Electricity & Water Co. (QEWS). He said they believe in solar power but are encountering some technology problems at the moment. The planned solar projects, he said, will cover huge areas but dust from the frontier areas will affect the efficiency of solar facilities. Qatar is this year’s host of the UN climate talks. The country had said it targets to source 20 per cent of its power requirements from renewables by 2030. They announced in October that they plan to install 1,800 megawatts of solar power capacity by 2014.
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