Sindh wants World Bank to help set up solar parks to produce 890MW

The Sindh government has asked for the World Bank’s assistance in developing two solar parks in the province to generate up to 890 megawatts of clean electricity for the benefit of the people.

Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh made the request on Thursday during a video conference with World Bank officials, who were led by Senior Energy Specialist Oliver Knight. One of the proposed solar parks having the capacity to generate 560 megawatts will be established in the Manjhand area of District Jamshoro while the other having the capacity to generate 330 megawatts will be established in District Thatta’s Gharo.

According to the energy minister, the solar parks will help utilise renewable resources of energy for the clean production of electricity to overcome the persisting power shortfall across the country.

He said that both the federal government and K-Electric should be persuaded to purchase the alternative electricity that will be generated by the two proposed solar parks in Sindh. He also said the Sindh government has decided that the public hospitals in all the districts of the province providing coronavirus treatment facilities will be energised using solar power.

The cost of the project to solarise 29 such government hospitals will be around Rs1.2 billion, and this project will be completed by March, while the rest of the public hospitals in the province will be solarised in the next phase, he added.

The meeting discussed the progress of implementing the project to provide clean electricity through solar power to some 200,000 off-grid underprivileged households in the far-flung areas of the province.

The minister said Sindh possesses phenomenal potential to generate the maximum amount of clean electricity through environment-friendly means, as the country’s biggest wind corridor is also in the province. He ordered the officials of his department to complete public welfare projects at the earliest.