100MW solar power plant is the costliest project

ISLAMABAD: The Qauid-e-Azam solar power plant has turned out to be the costliest power project in Pakistan. According to Nepra documents available with The News, the 100 MW solar project generates on average 17.5 MW electricity per day at exorbitant rate.
The government initiated 1000 MW Qauid-e-Azam solar power park at Bahawulpur in addition to many other coal-based projects. As a first step 100 MW solar power project was completed at the cost Rs13 billion with the objective of providing environment-friendly and cheaper electricity to the consumers, but the documents tell a different story.
The documents say that the project will definitely produce environment-friendly electricity but in small number of units and that too at a very high cost. It generates merely 17.5 MW per day on average at exorbitant rate. When ten such plants are set up only 175 MW of energy would be available. The story does not end here, as electricity from the solar plant will keep on decreasing at the rate of 0.7 percent. As per the documents, the regulator has approved the tariff of 100 MW of electricity earlier at Rs22.01 per unit, which has now been downwardly revised to Rs14.85 per unit, which still is on the higher side.
The sources confided to The News that some senior officials in Nepra argue that instead of installing nine more such plants in the solar power park the government should set up 900 MW projects based on furnace oil, coal and gas as the solar plant’s output gets reduced in the evening.
When contacted, Nepra spokesperson confirmed that the plant produces 17.5 MW, saying Pakistan lacks the solar technology, which is why the solar plant generates a small amount of electricity. However, she argued that Nepra has allowed the project to get started just to encourage the solar technology in the country, pleading that in the years to come the focus of electricity generation would be on the renewable energy means. When asked why the tariff of the 100 MW is higher, she said that in a country like Pakistan the interest rates are very high if compared with other countries’ tariffs on solar projects. However, the tariff of solar project will climb down in the years to come, she said.
The research done by SDPI into the tariff of 100 MW project determined by Nepra says that the plant validates the inept energy strategy that the current leadership is pursuing in order to overcome the power crisis. The Rs22.01 per unit tariff is going to put the economy under more strains.
A monetary evaluation of the tariff for the first ten years projects the highest cost of power generation through photovoltaic. The working of SDPI shows the cost comparison of solar energy with that of other renewable and non-renewable resources.
Currently Pakistan is not in a position to support such expensive projects. If the photovoltaic technology is to be added to the grid, it must be installed in the cities to reduce the transmission and distribution losses. Instead of providing relief to the national exchequer and balancing out the high import costs of furnace oil, the solar power projects are going to put the economy under severe financial strains.