Qatar enlisted French oil giant Total and Japan’s Marubeni to help build its first solar plant – an 800MW giant that it claimed will deliver the world’s cheapest PV power in time to meet World Cup green pledges.

State-owned Qatar Petroleum’s (QP’s) chief executive Saad Al Kaabi said in Doha on Sunday that the project – which will become one of the largest in the Middle East – is likely to cost 1.7 billion riyals ($467m) and is expected to be fully operational by the first quarter of 2022.

The Gulf state wants the plant up and running in time to meet sustainability commitments made ahead the FIFA World Cup, which was controversially awarded to Qatar and will be held there in December of that year.

Total and global power developer Marubeni beat off other bidders in a 16-strong field to participate in the project, which will be Qatar’s first solar plant and meet about 10% of its peak electricity demand.

Qatar state utility KAHRAMAA, which will buy the output under a 25-year power purchase agreement, said the tender had succeeded in unlocking “a competitive unit price for electricity produced [that is] currently the lowest in the world for such a project”.

KAHRAMAA and the bidders did not disclose details of the final tender price, but have been contacted by Recharge for more information.

Even when made public, claims of record prices in the solar sector are notoriously difficult to assess, due to variables such as the inclusion of grid connection costs and any hidden subsidies for land.

Qatar’s regional neighbor Dubai in late 2019 awarded the 900MW latest stage of its 5GW national solar mega-project after receiving a bid of $16.95/MWh that was among the most competitive ever seen in the sector. That followed one received by Portugal earlier last year at the equivalent of $16.39/MWh that's seen as the lowest yet globally.

Total and Marubeni will hold 40% of the project between them, with the rest held by a consortium of KAHRAMAA and QP.

The solar plant will be the biggest undertaken yet by Total, whose interests in renewable energy range from investments in US PV outfit SunPower and Lithium-ion battery maker Saft to onshore wind projects via its development subsidiary Total Eren.

In 2019 it announced a tie-up with Chinese clean energy group Envision to develop distributed solar projects in China and revealed plans to break into the UK offshore wind market.

Even as Qatar committs billions of dollars to ramp up its liquified natural gas (LNG) production capacity, it also aims to diversify energy resources and increase its reliance on renewable energy.

Qatari state-owned giants led by QP have plans to set up additional power plants over the next decade, as the nation aims to reduce carbon emissions and minimise environmental impact.