Solar power system installed

LAHORE: AkzoNobel Pakistan and Shams Power (Private) Limited have installed a 0.5MW solar power system at the AkzoNobel manufacturing facility in Lahore on a long-term Power Purchase Agreement basis, whereby AkzoNobel bears no Capital Investment or O&M Cost, a company official said.

The number of electricity units this solar plant would produce was equivalent to the number of electricity units a gasoline-based generator would produce using 1,000 barrels as fuel or alternatively, a coal-based power plant would produce by burning 0.4 million pounds of coal as fuel, the official added.

AkzoNobel Pakistan CEO Saad Mahmood Rashid said, “We are committed to sustainability by demonstrating environmentally responsible operations and we believe: sustainability is business and business is sustainability.”

Shams Power has installed a 0.5MW solar power system, allowing AkzoNobel Pakistan approximately euro 14,000 reduction in their electricity bills and savings of 387,000kg of carbon emissions every year. The transition of AkzoNobel from conventional power to solar system would result in the availability of additional electricity for more than 1,000 homes.

Shams Power Director Omar M Malik said, “Shams Power has enabled Akzo Nobel to do all this, and reduce their operating expenses from electricity, whilst bearing no financial cost for CAPEX or OPEX.”