Sindh begins solar power installations on public buildings

KARACHI: Sindh Energy Department (SED), with technical and financial support of the World Bank, has kicked-off the plan to install 20MW of distributed solar power on and around public buildings in Karachi and Hyderabad, scheduled to be completed by 2021, an official document said on Tuesday.

The project aims to contribute in the reduction of circular debt, and also to stimulate the growth of distributed and rooftop solar market in Sindh and Pakistan. Further, it aims to reduce Sindh’s overall electricity consumption, the document added.

A building survey has already been commissioned for this purpose. It should be noted that in 2016, the World Bank commissioned a study to assess the potential for distributed generation in Pakistan, particularly through solar for large public sector buildings. The study had assessed 20 large buildings in the city of Karachi, and up to 79MW of solar PV potential was identified, mostly on public buildings.

Sindh Solar Energy Project (SSEP) would finance the installation of distributed solar PV on rooftops and other available space on and around public sector buildings in Sindh plus energy efficiency retrofits and energy management systems.

SED would hire a supervision engineering firm to ensure that all installations were carried out to the highest national and international standards, thus ensuring that the government of Sindh obtains excellent value for money.

Distributed solar, such as solar photovoltaic installations on and around buildings in urban areas, offer the benefit of being close to load centres, removing the need for transmission infrastructure and making efficient use of already-developed land.

“The distributed solar market in Pakistan is slowly gaining momentum, but has been hampered by the distribution companies’ (DISCOs) reluctance to facilitate the export of power, in part because the current net metering regulations do not provide for any compensation of system costs,” the document said.

“Where power export has not been possible, commercial consumers have resorted to sizing the solar system to be below their minimum daytime demand, thereby avoiding the need for a two-way flow of power,” it noted.

It should be mentioned here that SED, under Sindh government has obtained financing and technical support from the World Bank to expand solar power and increase access to electricity under the SSEP.