Wind, solar output to reach 7pc of total generation soon

LAHORE: The renewable energy production in Pakistan is all set to account for seven percent of the total electricity generated in the country in the short to medium-term, an official said on Monday.

“At present the functional wind, solar, and some other renewable energy projects in the country have been producing 2,000 Megawatts of clean electricity,” said Shah Jahan Mirza, Chief Executive Officer of the Alternative Development Board (AEDB) addressing an event.

Mirza said under construction wind and solar projects in the country would produce another 850MWs of renewable energy in short to medium-term. He further said the solar and wind projects alone were not facing the issue of non-payment of dues against electricity produced by them as the issue was of general nature pertaining to all the power plants in the country owing to the problem of circular debt.

He said the AEDB had been making progress introducing the system of international competitive bidding to promote electricity generation through clean resources in the country.

“Although we have an ambitious target of clean electricity generation in the country, we will try our best to achieve it,” said the AEDB chief. He said they had been waiting for the finalisation of the generation expansion plan by the government as this would be helpful to determine the exact year-wise need to generate clean electricity to overcome the energy shortfall in the country.

He assured the participants more electricity would be drawn from the wind and solar power projects already functional in the country with an increase in nationwide energy demand.

Mian Ghulam Mohiuddin Ahmad, CEO of SGS Electrical Company, said his company had been working hard to help the Pakistani fan industry adopt the necessary technological innovations to save electricity through their appliances.

Ahmad said that his company had introduced a fan in the Pakistani market, which was capable of saving up to 80 percent electricity to the benefit of the power consumers.

In his address, Muhammad Tahir, CEO of Prosun Solar, said his company had been making efforts to introduce special solar-powered appliances for areas of Pakistan that were off-grid and didn’t have electricity.

Tahir said his company was also planning to work with the concerned regulatory authorities of the energy sector to prevent sale and usage of substandard solar equipment and products in the country. He said the solar energy sector had a very bright future in Pakistan as the country had massive potential to produce electricity using alternative power resources.