THE first photovoltaic solar panels have been installed in the first phase of Qatar’s QR20-billion ($5.49 billion) Msheireb Downtown Doha project, considered to be the world’s first sustainable regeneration of a downtown area in a major city,

The roof-mounted photovoltaic (PV) modules, installed by Innovations Unlimited ME, will supply a portion of the electricity needs of the buildings within Phase One of the landmark development.

The buildings within Phase 1A are being installed with 2,072 PV panels and 37 inverters, feeding a total of 463.4 kWp (kilowatts at peak power) of electricity and will feed directly into the electrical grid of the development, thus significantly reducing the buildings’ carbon emissions, according to the project’s developer Msheireb Properties, a leading real estate company and subsidiary of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.

The installation of the solar panels reflects Msheireb Properties’ ongoing commitment to sustainable development in line with Qatar’s National Vision for 2030.

Msheireb Properties’ chief executive officer Abdulla Hassan Al-Mehshadi said: “Adopting advanced clean technology such as solar energy in addition to traditional methods of climate management is a hallmark of the Msheireb project which will have one of the largest concentrations of Leed (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified buildings in the world on completion. Our partnership with Innovations Unlimited ME to install advanced solar power within Phase One of the development will help us move steadily towards achieving this goal.”

When complete, the project will comprise 5,200 solar panels across a total of 8,400 sq m of onsite energy production in the form of both electricity and hot water. Each year, the solar PV system will reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by 568 tonnes, which is equivalent to 241,000 litres of gasoline consumed.

Work on the Msheireb Downtown Doha project is progressing well with infrastructure works now completed. Construction of the national archive and the heritage quarter is on track to be completed this year.