Renewable Energy Use
Initiative description: Identifying options and implementing projects to maximise the feasible use of renewable energy for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ sites and overlay infrastructure.
Hosting the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ was a major catalyst towards Qatar achieving many of the sustainable development objectives in its National Vision 2030. The numerous sustainability goals outlined in the Sustainability Strategy not only covered the staging of the tournament itself but include a multitude of legacy goals for the country and the region. One of these goals has been to develop renewable energy sources in Qatar, with a focus on solar energy.
Solar energy played an important role in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, with the Qatari government inaugurating the first large scale solar power plant ahead of the tournament. Al-Kharsaah Solar Power Plant has 800 MW capacity and covers an area of 10 square kilometres. The plant will provide approximately 10% of Qatar’s electricity demand while reducing the country’s carbon emissions by an estimated 26 million tonnes during its lifetime.
Al-Kharsaah Solar Power Plant started to deliver renewable energy before the tournament began and will continue to do so for years to come.
In addition, several renewable energy demonstration projects were installed at stadium precincts and training sites ahead of the tournament. Building on these renewable energy demonstration projects, a total of approximately 1 MW of renewable energy was installed in stadium precincts and training sites. Examples of projects included:
Al Bayt Stadium installed 271kW of solar powered lighting across all external parking lots and the precinct perimeter.
At Al Thumama Stadium, a research facility was established to study high-efficiency cooling powered exclusively by photovoltaic (PV) panels which supplied around 106kW of solar energy.
Also at Al Thumama Stadium, innovative solar panel technology was installed in the area surrounding the stadium (as a pilot project*) for fans to charge their mobile devices through modern charging sockets powered by solar energy.
Solar-powered air quality monitoring was conducted at Al Wahda Training Site.
*SunPave technology was among the winning projects in the Challenge 22 program, which was launched by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), with the aim of promoting innovation in the Arab world, by encouraging youth in the region to launch their creative ideas, and help develop and transform them into solutions that enhance fan experience during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
Furthermore, temporary solar powered lighting was used throughout the tournament.
This included around 478 solar powered lighting towers across tournament sites, such as car parks and pedestrian areas, supplying around 72 kW of solar powered lighting.
Security perimeter fencing also utilised solar powered lighting, which included over 14,000 lights that supplied over 360 kW of solar power throughout the tournament.
Over 600 full sized solar panels were used to power the LED lighting for large wayfinding structures and more than 3200 all-in-one solar lighting fixtures for the smaller signage. This supplied over 20,416 kWh.