Solar power can energise 60m homes

NEPRA chief urges innovative solutions to power off-grid homes

Solar power is a ray of hope for some 60 million people of Pakistan who don't have electricity at their households, said National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Chairman Tauseef H Farooqui.

He said it is an abundantly available source of renewable energy and should be used to energise thousands of off-grid homes in the country.

Farooqi was addressing the 1st International Conference and Exhibition on Solar Energy as the guest of honour. The Energy Update organised the conference. The NEPRA Chairman urged energy sector companies dealing in solar power to provide innovative energy solutions to energize the houses of 30 per cent of the Pakistani population which was deprived of electricity.

"Do come up with an innovative solution to provide electricity to these off-grid people as it is a huge untapped electricity market for you," said the NEPRA chief while addressing solar companies' top officials.

He said NEPRA had been doing its best to promote the usage of the net metering system for greater reliance on renewable energy sources in the country.

In his keynote address, Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) CEO Shahjahan Mirza said renewable sources of electricity still accounted for only six per cent of the national energy mix. "So, efforts have to be made to increase this ratio to 30 per cent till the year 2030, in accordance with the revised Renewable Energy Policy of Pakistan," he said.

He added AEDB had completed formalities to introduce the system of competitive bidding to facilitate the installation of solar and wind power projects in the country.

He said AEDB had also been working on the project to operate 14,000 tube wells in agricultural lands of Balochistan on the basis of solar energy.

Addressing the conference as its chief guest, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh said solar power could play an important role in curbing harmful carbon emissions in the country, in accordance with the Paris Agreement to which Pakistan is a signatory.

He said Sindh was blessed with the only functional wind corridor in the country as the entire area of the province was also most suitable for solar power generation. Shaikh added the Sindh government had also launched a World Bank-assisted project to provide solar home systems to 200,000 off-grid households.

He said the same project would be used to install solar power systems at 35 big government-run hospitals in the province. The energy Minister said the Sindh government had allocated 55,000 acres of land for renewable energy projects. He said the relevant federal authorities shouldn't impede the efforts of the Sindh government to install.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2021.