New Europe: Harsh conditions & solar power in Qatar

Last week Prof. Alberto Troccoli attended the International Conference on Sustainable Energy, Water, Environment Nexus in Desert Climate 2019 (ICESWEN 19) organized by the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI). There he met up with and spoke to Kostis Geropoulos, a journalist from the New Europe magazine who specialises in Energy news. 

Kostis was covering the conference and assessing how harsh climates like in Qatar explore the challenges and opportunities in the energy, water environment nexus. Alberto spoke about the higher air turbidity in Qatar when compared to many other places.

“The main resource is solar and solar PV and the when you look at that resource it is very good but it’s actually attenuated by the aerosols in the air because there is a lot of desert dust and it depends on the season.”

He also commented how the higher temperatures reduce efficiencies and PV lifespans, which was a big talking point for Veronica Bermudez – a representative from QEERI and an expert in sustainable energy research, technology and innovation – as well. She mentioned that, due to the humidity, in summer, sometimes 60% of electricity is used on air conditioning and that, “…there is a very big interest in going through energy efficiency and standards for buildings without decreasing the level of comfort of the society…”.

To read the full article, please visit the New Europe Website.