Govt plans three windmill power plants

Wind energy policy due in a week.

HYDERABAD:

The federal government will allocate a budget for three windmill projects in Thatta, Dadu and Jamshoro districts, in the next ten to twelve days, said Syed Naveed Qamar, the federal minister for water and power.

Wind energy will be harnessed to generate up to 1,500 Megawatts (MW) of electricity in the next one and a half years. “The government will approve the tariff within a couple of weeks after which we will announce a wind energy policy,” said Qamar.  “Once launched, the project will contribute between 1,000 MW to 1,500 MW to the national grid within a year or so.”

He was talking to reporters while inaugurating roads and electricity supply schemes in the villages of Tando Muhammad Khan and Hyderabad on Saturday.

The minister acknowledged that the rental power policy had not achieved what it had set out to. “There is no plan to acquire electricity from rental plants,” he said. Rental plants are contributing only around 125 MW, in the total amount generated which is between 13,000 MW to 13,500 MW.

Recently, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved the Kohala Dam and Bhasha dams, which will together contribute more than 2,500 MW to the national grid. Minister Qamar termed the Diamir Bhasha dam ‘a landmark’, but said that “these projects are for the future. In the short run, we are focusing on windmills.”

He said that the government is promoting the use of coal for power production as it is cheaper. “While new coal plants are in the pipeline, we are encouraging the existing thermal plants to convert to coal,” said the minster.

Qamar claimed that during the last three years of the government of the Pakistan Peoples Party, more than 3,000 MW have been added to the national grid.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2011.