The renewable energy production in Pakistan is increasing and will soon account for 7% of the total electricity generated in the country, said Alternative Development Board (AEDB) CEO Shah Jahan Mirza.
While addressing the International Renewable Energy Conference, the CEO informed the audience of the conference that at present the functional wind, solar, and some other renewable energy projects in the country had been producing 2,000MW of clean electricity. He said that the under-construction wind and solar projects in the country would produce another 850MW of renewable energy.
Speaking on the occasion, SGS Electrical Company CEO Mian Ghulam Mohiuddin Ahmad said that his company had been working hard to help the Pakistani fan industry adopt the necessary technological innovations to save electricity through their appliances. He said that his company had introduced a fan in the Pakistani market, which was capable of saving up to 80% electricity to the benefit of the power consumers.
Prosun Solar CEO Muhammad Tahir said that his company had been making efforts to introduce special solar-powered appliances for areas of Pakistan that were off-grid and did not have electricity. He said that his company had also plans to work with the concerned regulatory authorities of the energy sector to prevent sale and usage of substandard solar equipment and products in the country. He said the solar energy sector had a very bright future in Pakistan as the country had massive potential to produce electricity using alternative power resources.
Mirza added that the solar and wind projects alone were not facing issue of non-payment of dues against electricity produced by them as the issue is general in nature pertaining to all the power plants in the country owing to the problem of circular debt. He said the AEDB had been making progress to introduce the system of international competitive bidding to promote electricity generation through clean resources in the country.
"Although we have an ambitious target of clean electricity generation in the country, we will try our best to achieve it."
He said that they had been waiting for the finalisation of the generation expansion plan by the government as this would be helpful to determine the exact year-wise need to generate clean electricity to overcome the energy shortfall in the country. He assured the participants that more electricity would be drawn from the wind and solar power projects already functional in the country with an increase in nationwide energy demand.
Speaking on the occasion, Naeem Qureshi of Energy Update stressed the need for greater interaction and dialogue between concerned stakeholders of the government and private sectors to promote the cause of clean power generation in the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 20th, 2021.
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