Renewable energy growth linked with net metering law

KARACHI: There will be a phenomenal growth in power generation from renewable sources of energy once the regulations on consumer’s electricity sale to distribution companies get in place, a company’s senior executive said.   

“The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority has already approved net metering regulations, but the distribution companies have some reservations over them and the law has not been implemented,” Chief Executive Officer Inam-ur-Rehman at Reon Energy, a leading solar solutions provider in Pakistan, told The News. 

Implementation of the law will enable consumers to sell power generated through solar panels or wind mills to a distribution company.

Net metering works through the installation of a meter that is able to record energy flow in both the directions: from consumer to the grid and vice versa.

The meter records when consumers draw power from the grid and use more energy than they produce and also records when they send back energy to the grid and use less than what they produce. At a month-end, the consumer is billed on the basis of net electricity.

“Solar energy is generated during the day when consumption is quite low and the electricity so generated can be pumped into the grid, which can be adjusted against the consumption during night hours,” Rehman said. “(Because of that), a consumer fixing solar panels will not need storage batteries, hence the installation cost will significantly be reduced.” 

This will help in boosting the renewable energy market as well as add surplus units to the grid, bridging supply-demand gap to overcome the energy crisis.

Sources said distribution companies are reluctant to receive power from the consumers as they will not be getting any monetary benefits on this.

Earlier, Rehman, addressing a seminar, said Pakistan is naturally blessed with abundant solar energy. “Reon partners with businesses and industries to help provide energy security and independence.

The company has installed various medium to large scales projects during the year,” he added.