‘Coal-based power generation must be checked’

Islamabad: There was a broad consensus among key stakeholders during a consultative meeting on the need for checking coal-based power generation in the country and diverting 60 per cent of the total energy mix to renewable energy by 2030.

The meeting was held at the Institute of Policy Studies to discuss IPS study on 'barriers surrounding distributed generation' with IPS executive president Khalid Rahman in the chair. The event was moderated by former water and power secretary Mirza Hamid Hasan and addressed by Asad Mehmood of the National Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority, Aftab Ahmad Awan of the Planning Commission, Neshmiya A Khan, Hamza Butt and Maryam Arshad of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Zeeshan Ashfaq of the World Wind Energy Association Pakistan (WWEA), Mushtaq Gaadi of the Quaid-i-Azam University, and Dr Azhar Lashari and Haneea Isaad of the Rural Development Policy Institute (RDPI).

IPS energy team including Naila Saleh, Hamza Naeem and Sara briefed participants on the issue. Terming solar prosumage as an irresistible and most promising solution to simultaneously advance renewable energy uptake vis-à-vis address the chronic bottlenecks plaguing the national power sector, the speakers discussed at length how several barriers including regulatory bumps at inter-connection phase, low trust in technology, difficulties in accessing finance, and inertia at the level of distribution companies (DISCOs)—were collectively restricting solar PV growth in the country.

Overall great emphasis was made on the alignment of distributed generation growth in IGCEP, significant stakeholder consultations and support, and consolidated changes for overcoming the identified challenges.

It was also discussed that the environmental impact assessment of coal power generation in the country was not easily accessible —making it quite difficult to ascertain the effect of the waste of these plants on subsoil fertility and biodiversity.

The speakers said that those coal projects already initiated under the aegis of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor should however should be completed while realistic implementation action plan should be designed for the future against the background of PM decision made on not considering new coal-fired power plants.