Green energy initiatives being taken for Sindh’s sustainable development, says CM

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that his government is striving for socio-economic sustainable development of the province through green energy initiatives in line with international commitments of his government.

“Apart from the development of indigenous Thar coal energy resources, various power projects have so far been completed in Sindh,” he said on Thursday while speaking at the inauguration ceremony for the distribution of Solar-Home-System (SHS) chaired by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

According to the chief minister, the completed projects include the development of a wind corridor in Jhimpir, District Thatta, where 1,845 MW of renewable power is being produced. Additionally, 40 public sector buildings, mostly hospitals, have been equipped with rooftop solar panels with a generation capacity of 26 MW. Furthermore, 352 rural health centres have been solarized with a standard 3KW solar system.

In addition to this, 24 schemes for the solarization of public sector schools, colleges, primary healthcare facilities, jails, and government buildings are in the process of installing solar panels on their rooftops, the CM said. He added that the solar programme has been further accelerated, and during the current year, 656 government schools would be equipped with solar power.

Shah applauded Bilawal Bhutto’s interest in providing the quick delivery of solar systems to the common man in line with the party election manifesto of providing free electricity of up to 300 units. He added that this strategy is being adopted to combat the exorbitant electricity bills charged by the distribution companies from the public.

The provincial energy department has collected the figures for the numbers of households having up to 300 units of electricity consumption and it was revealed that 2.6 million households have no access to electricity, 2.4 million households have a consumption of less than 100 units, 0.37 million households have a consumption of less than 200 units and 0.498 million households have a consumption of less than 300 units.

We have developed a comprehensive plan to fulfil the party manifesto during the five-year tenure through multiple programmes, including the provision of SHS to the poorest of the poor free of costs; and the provision of small SHS on a cost-sharing basis with inverter and batteries, and provision of SHS with Inverters and batteries through interest-free loans. “To achieve these targets, several green energy projects both on-grid and off-grid have been initiated,” he said.