Making progress: Ten wind projects to achieve financial close this year

They will have a combined power production capacity of 500MW.


Our Correspondent July 12, 2012

ISLAMABAD:


Ten wind power projects with a combined capacity of 500 megawatts will achieve financial close in the current year, giving the hope that tapping of alternative energy resources will help ease power shortage.


The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Alternative Energy Development Board Arif Allauddin announced this while speaking at a seminar on “Alternative and renewable energy resources and Pakistan’s energy crisis”, organised by the Institute of Policy Studies here on Thursday.

He said the government was moving towards alternative energy resources and had made progress over the last five years. “A project needs five years and two wind power projects have achieved financial close while eight others will reach the mark this year.”

Financial close refers to a period of time when all conditions have been fulfilled and all documents filed. After that, borrowing can be made.

However, Allauddin pointed to the circular debt, which was a worry for the energy sector. There were other issues as well like allotment of land for wind projects, which needed to be settled.

He said the government was facilitating the private sector to help them set up energy projects. In this regard, duties and sales tax on renewable energy projects have been removed.

“We cannot remain hostage to (expensive) thermal power and we need to move towards renewable energy resources to overcome the power crisis,” he declared.

Highlighting the benefits of solar energy, he said it was cheaper than electricity produced by diesel. “You can produce power through solar technology when you want. Only you have to change the design of your house as it will not be successful in ‘inefficient houses’.”

Speaking on the occasion, Renewable and Alternative Energy Association of Pakistan representative Asif Jah said they had worked on solar energy in big cities like Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. However, remote areas have also not been ignored.

“A house requires expenditure of Rs30,000 to Rs100,000 and the government should provide loans for such projects,” he said, adding initial cost of the solar project was higher, so banks should lease solar energy in remote areas.

Habib-ur-Rehman, CEO of Bio Energy Technology Application, which works on community-based biogas development and management programmes, said biogas proved to be a cheaper source of energy. “A small house spends Rs6,000 per month on fuel and we can save this by using biogas,” he pointed out and said biogas was environment-friendly and save people from health hazards. He suggested that the country could win carbon credits by utilising biogas and cited the example of India, which was getting benefits of
carbon credit.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2012.

COMMENTS (3)

cautious | 11 years ago | Reply

And this is newsworthy for what reason? As far as I can tell you filed some internal document - haven't really got the funds for the project, haven't hired a contractor, let alone started construction.

Zia | 11 years ago | Reply

I thought that the electricty power can now be added to the grid. What a snail pace this govt is going to our most important problem.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ