‘Solar PV potential paves new way for collaboration’

Islamabad: Solar PV potential in Pakistan has paved new way for Sino-Pak collaboration, said LiuYiyang, Deputy Secretary-General and spokesperson of China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA).

Pakistan’s federal government building will be the first to use solar energy. By April 2023, these buildings will run entirely on solar energy. “Government building solar projects can save 300-500MW of electricity per month to reduce soaring import costs, which is as high as about USD27 billion per year.”

Under CPEC, China’s world-leading photovoltaic industry has sensed more opportunities for cooperation.

“In 2022, China’s photovoltaic module exports to Pakistan has reached approximately USD870 million, with a total installed capacity of 3.2GW, a year-on-year increase of 54% and 37%, respectively,” said LiuYiyang, during an interview with CEN. In emerging markets such as South Asia, Pakistan has always been one of indispensable target markets for China’s photovoltaic module exports. Lately, Mohsin Sahukat, secretary-general of the Pakistan Solar Association (PSA), proposed to the Minister of Electricity Khurram Dastgir Khan on importing photovoltaic modules and other equipment, asking to remove photovoltaic products from the list of non-essential items.

He emphasised that he would cooperate with Pakistan State Bank (SBP) to tackle financing challenges for imported PV products.

Pakistan imported about $1.2 billion in photovoltaic modules in the last fiscal year. PSA showed that the country’s import demand for photovoltaic products this year will be around $1.8 billion. In addition, as early as in 2021, the Pakistani government made a commitment to increase domestic clean energy consumption to 60% of the total energy consumption by 2030, and the number of electric vehicles to reach 30 percent of the number of vehicles, which means that new impetus have been injected into the industry and China-Pakistan photovoltaic cooperation.

“As for Pakistan’s urgent power demand, China has the capability to provide comprehensive support for Pakistan’s construction of photovoltaic power plants based on mature experience and a complete supply chain.

However, Pakistan has been plagued by high electricity prices and unstable power supply for a long time, showing that photovoltaic energy storage facilities, as an essential infrastructure that supports the large-scale application of photovoltaics and other new energy sources and promotes carbon neutrality, is a top priority for development,” Liu pointed out.