WWEA calls for no competitive bidding system for power SMEs

KARACHI: The World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) has urged Pakistan government to preferably exempt the small and medium-sized (SME) enterprises in power sector from competitive bidding system, launching in next month for new renewable energy projects.

This suggestion was put forward by WWEA Secretary-General, Stefan Gsänger, while keynoting the 5th International Wind Energy Summit through a video-link.

Gsänger said the SME power companies should be exempted from the competitive bidding mechanism for their sustainability as the key players in the energy sector.

“I could give you the example from my own country, Germany, where not only the discussion took place, but the decision was also taken to exempt certain types of the small and medium power companies from the auction tariff and go back to the system of the feed-in tariff,” said the WWEA official.

The recent conflict in international relations has made it clear the countries of the world should aim to fulfil 100 percent of their energy needs through renewable means for the sake of peace and their independence, WWEA official said.

Gsänger strongly urged Pakistan to clear any confusion regarding the targets set for the renewable energy sector as part of the national energy plan so that all the concerned stakeholders could work together with full commitment to meet these objectives.

According to him, for the past many years the investment in the renewable energy sector all over the world has surpassed the capital invested to build new power projects on the basis of fossil fuels and conventional sources of electricity generation.

“Resultantly, more clean electricity is being added to the grid all over the world every year than the new power plants built on the basis of non-renewable sources,” Gsänger added.

Shah Jahan Mirza, CEO of Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) spoke about the AEDB’s plans to launch the process of competitive bidding for new wind and

power projects to meet the targets of clean electricity as given in the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2021-2030.

Chairman of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), Tauseef H Farooqui, said the NEPRA was fully committed to helping out the execution of upcoming wind and solar power projects to meet the targets of clean electricity given in the IGCEP.

He said the renewable forms of power generation had the potential to energise homes of 60 million Pakistanis that are no connected to national grid.

He said the NEPRA had been expeditiously implementing the regime of net-metering for the use of solar and wind energy by domestic and industrial consumers.

Also speaking on the occasion via the video-link, Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, State Minister and Chairman Board of Investment (BoI), gave word on behalf of BoI to facilitate foreign investment in the renewable energy sector of Pakistan for overcoming the shortfall.

He said the government was alive to the importance of clean electricity for protection of environment and improvement of national economy as the inexpensive source of electricity.

Amjad Ali Awan, CEO of Punjab Public-Private Partnership Authority, informed the audience about the efforts he had made as the former chief of AEDB to expeditiously explore and exploit wind and solar means in the country for clean power generation.

Awan said all the concerned stakeholders and government had to speed up their efforts to achieve the ambitious targets set for clean power generation in Pakistan.