Govt buildings to shift to ‘solar power’ soon

The government has decided to shift its buildings to solar power as soon as possible.

A meeting of the Task Force on Solar Energy, chaired by its Convener Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, on Saturday reviewed various measures to increase solar energy production in the country.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb and other members of the task force were in attendance.

In a statement, Marriyum said that the government was taking practical steps to facilitate the process of public access to green power under the vision of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“Work on solar energy projects has started to make PM's dream of a clean and green Pakistan a reality,” she said, adding that it was decided to install solar plants in the areas where electricity was being subsidised.

The meeting also considered formulating a policy to save energy and promote green energy, the minister said.

“The relevant authorities have been directed to prepare a feasibility report for shifting government buildings to solar energy.”

The meeting also considered a plan to provide subsidies and concessional loans to small consumers for switching to solar energy, the federal information minister said.

Last year, she said, the capacity to generate solar electricity was 600 megawatts and steps were being taken to increase it further.

The meeting opined that there was need to promote solar panels to convert public and private buildings to solar energy and attract people towards solar energy.

The minister said that the consumers using solar panels would also be able to sell additional power to grid stations, which would also help them increase their income.

In this regard, she said work on projects of up to 5,000MW will start soon.

"We will not allow anyone to establish a monopoly in the energy sector but will promote competition," she said.

Installation of solar panels will not only save power consumption in the domestic sector but line losses will also be reduced, she maintained.

The minister said that the task force will formulate its recommendations and present them to Premier Shehbaz.