Nepra grants licence to Hunza Group for energy generation

KARACHI: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has granted generation licence to Hunza Power Pvt Ltd (GPPL) for their proposed 49.8MW bagasse-based co-generation facility to be setup in Punjab, an official document revealed on Thursday.

The government through Alternate Energy Development Board (AEDB) has formulated the policy for the development of renewable energy for power generation 2006. Initially, the scope of the policy included the development of hydro, wind and solar technologies. Later, the government amended the scope of the policy to include power projects based on bagasse, biomass, waste-to-energy and bio-energy technology, it showed.

The government also extended the applicability of the policy for an additional five years starting March 6, 2013. Accordingly, the AEDB has issued a letter of intent (LoI) to different entrepreneurs and developers. One such LoI was issued to Hunza Group of Industries for setting up a 49.80MW bagasse-based power project.

Hunza Group is a leading producer of sugar, edible oil, vanaspati ghee, carbon dioxide (Co2) and ethanol in the country for more than two decades and has set up a few captive power plants at its mills.

The proposed generation facility will utilise the bagasse generated from sugar mill of the group company. Whenever there will be any shortage of bagasse in the area due to change in cane crop in the adjoining area of the sugar mill, either the bagasse will be purchased from the market or other biomass, including cane trash, cotton stick, mustard straw, rice husk, etc, will be utilised for the operation of the generation facility.

Nepra in its determination notes sustainable and affordable energy / electricity is a key prerequisite for the socioeconomic development of any country.

The authority is of the opinion that for sustainable development, all indigenous power generation resources, including renewable energy must be developed on a priority basis, as the country’s existing energy mix is heavily skewed towards the thermal power plants mainly operating on imported fossil fuel.