Pakistan

PM Nawaz inaugurates world's first solar Parliament

Solar-power plant will help Parliament House save around Rs12 million in electricity bills every year

News Desk February 23, 2016

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with the chairman of Senate and Chinese ambassador at the inauguration ceremony of solar plant at Parliament House on February 23, 2016. PHOTO: PID

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday inaugurated the world's first ever solar-powered Parliament House.

"I appreciate the initiatives of National Assembly speaker and Senate chairman for making the country's parliament the first in the world to be run entirely on solar power," the premier said while addressing the inauguration ceremony.

PM to inaugurate ‘solar parliament’ next week

"It is encouraging to note that the Parliament's solar plant will not only meet its own energy requirements but the additional electricity will contribute to the national grid," he added.

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The premier assured that the shortage of electricity has always been a problem for Pakistan but the government is gradually trying to resolve it.

Lauding China's efforts, PM Nawaz stated that this solar power system, along with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is proof of friendship between the two countries. "Not only Pakistan, but China as well as the entire region will benefit from CPEC," the premier reiterated.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and PM Nawaz launched the project on April 22, 2015.

Pedal, solar power aims to be the new hybrid

The system is currently generating 80MWh electricity, of which 62MW is used by the Parliament House and the surplus 18MW supplied to the national grid. The project was completed in seven months at a cost of Rs280.61 million.

The solar-power plant will help the Parliament House save around Rs12 million in electricity bills every year, officials claim. The power demand at the legislative house rises to 2.3MW in summers due to the additional load of air conditioners and other cooling equipment.

COMMENTS (12)

Sajjad Ashraf | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistan would be happier place if the parliament was functioning for the purpose it exists. Sadly, it is largely a group of extortionists, opportunitists of which Mr. Sharif is the chief. Wish he understood the meaning of parliamentary democracy. Pakistan is an oligarchy headed by the Sharifs.

Dash | 8 years ago | Reply Now lets see how long it works!!!

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Burhan Khan | 8 years ago | Reply How come the parliemnt costumes 62 mega watts of electricity, seems like the load of a very large factory.

Shakil Ahmed Khan | 8 years ago | Reply good move, can we have corruption free parliament too?

Fuzail | 8 years ago | Reply Well done, Government. Please consider first putting all Provincial Assemblies on Solar and then one by one all government departments, starting from the biggest electricity consumer departments. Offices can easily use Solar power and cheap because these buildings may not need the batteries initially to store the power for night useage. Later it can be considered. Perhaps the parliament could also pass a law that private buildings must have solar roofs, starting from, say, 2017. Good luck!

Ehsan | 8 years ago | Reply Its a symbolic but good step.

abu noor | 8 years ago | Reply Great achievement!!! At least this forced NS to pay a visit to the parliament.... only 34 MNAs were there yesterday in a house of 350+ members.... theoretically PML-N should close down parliament to save some cost and let NS/SS to operate Pakistan out of Raiwind...

Daniyal S. M | 8 years ago | Reply So it took Rs280.61 million to create, and saves the Parliament Rs12 million in electricity bills every year. That is a payback period of 23.38 years without even taking into account inflation, maintenance cost, obsolescence etc. What a dumb move.

A J Khan | 8 years ago | Reply This Project has been developed to give exclusive treatment to Parliamentarians and avoid hardship of load shedding faced by general public.

Asad Khan | 8 years ago | Reply Well done, Parliament, PML-N, His Excellency Ambassador of China, Pak Parliament is now practically Green Parliament. regards,

Pakistani | 8 years ago | Reply China is true friend of Pakistan.

A J Khan | 8 years ago | Reply Can any one calculate per member consumption of electricity and its cost to national exchequer? They are the highest consumer of energy per capita. They are also not revealing the cost of the project and per KW production cost. The project has been done to avoid load sharing when people of lesser god is suffering due to load shedding. This project shows their contempt for general public and their sufferings.

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