FPCCI slams govt for stalling 2,000MW of wind projects

KARACHI: Ministry of Energy has been dragging feet on more than 2,000 megawatts of wind power projects on one pretext or the other for the past two years, the apex trade body said.

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FPCCI) standing committee on alternate energy development, in a statement on Friday, said the country would have 1,200 megawatts of wind power projects by this yearend.

Most of the renewable energy projects have achieved technical and financial milestones and are awaiting financial close, the committee said.

It said Pakistan has heavily relied on imported oil, and now on re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG), which has rendered the cost of electricity unaffordable for the consumers.

FPCCI committee said unless cheaper forms of energy are brought into the energy mix, Pakistan would continue to suffer high cost of electricity, leading to collapse of exports.

The meeting castigated the perception of LNG to be the only savor. It said the tariff of LNG plants was “cosmetically” shown low, whereas the tariffs have already been increased by approximately 50 percent due to increase in oil price in the international market.

Moreover, further rupee devaluation and rising oil prices would increase the price of LNG going forward, the FPCCI committee said. It said wind tariff is lower than the current LNG tariff. Knowing that LNG tariff will keep increasing every day and wind tariffs would remain the same, one could imagine the fleeting nature of LNG as a solution. The members of the standing committee, closely affiliated with the alternate energy development, were also critical of LNG- based power plants.

They believed that unjustifiably high levels of commitments were deliberately placed in the power purchase agreements, so that purchase of LNG power should continue, no matter what oil price is.

More than 550,000 MW of wind and 220,000 MW of solar power plants are currently in operation globally, whereas Pakistan clearly lags behind.