Pakistan, China: Interconnecting power grid to be built

They will be able to tap each other’s energy potential

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Water and Power and the State Grid Corporation of China are working closely to build an interconnecting electricity grid between the two countries to enable them to utilise each other’s energy potential.

Water and Power Secretary Muhammad Younus Dagha stated this at the Global Energy Interconnection Conference in Beijing where more than 700 delegates were present.



According to a statement issued by the ministry, the secretary said the building of the interconnecting grid would allow Pakistan to meet its growing energy demand according to the requirement.

On the other hand, China will benefit from the clean energy potential in Pakistan, especially the hydroelectric power generation along the Indus River cascade, which is on the route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.



Dagha said Pakistan was very much positioned to become an energy corridor for the region and facilitate the exchange of clean energy in South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and China. Speaking about the Central Asia-South Asia (Casa) 1,000 power supply project, Dagha stressed that Pakistan had a unique geographical position as it was strategically located at the confluence of South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and China.

He noted that Pakistan was moving fast to bridge the deficit and become an energy-surplus country in the next three years.



“We hope to become self-sufficient in power generation by  2018, still we will be left with an untapped potential of more than 60,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power,,” he said.

Pakistan also has an untapped potential for more than 90,000MW of wind power in its south and an unlimited solar power potential across 850,000 square km of its area.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st,  2016.

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