‘Engage academia in green energy’

Expert calls for setting up solar plate plants in collaboration with China

LAHORE:

A two-year technical training programme should be designed in collaboration with China through which technicians can be trained for further development of hydroelectric power, solar power and wind energy in Pakistan, suggested Sajid Rashid Ahmad, Principal of Earth and Environmental Sciences College of the University of Punjab.

Pakistan is grappling with the effects of climate change. Therefore, developing green energy is an inevitable choice for the country to achieve sustainable development.

Speaking at the International Conference on Pakistan’s Energy Sector Landscape held earlier this month, Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir Khan said that the future of Pakistan’s energy mix lies in indigenous and clean energy sources including solar, wind, hydroelectric and Thar coal.

However, the development of these clean energy sources faces a lot of challenges.

“Taking solar energy as an example, although Pakistan has promoted solar panels and set up the Quaid-e-Azam solar park, we didn’t make long-term planning and have not started producing our own solar plates. As solar energy is becoming expensive, so are the solar plates,” Ahmad said.

While suggesting cooperation with China, he stressed “technology transfer is our best option. We can set up solar plate manufacturing plants in Pakistan in collaboration with them.”

“One of the important reasons behind China’s progress is that their businessmen collaborated with academies. They presented their problems and asked for their solutions. They also invested a lot in talent training and the research and development of the institutes,” Ahmad noted.

This month, China released guidelines on promoting the integration of industry and education in the vocational education sector in China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). By 2025, there will be about 50 national pilot cities focused on the integration of industry and education.

“School-enterprise cooperation can give full play to the advantages of both schools and enterprises and play a positive role in cultivating skilled talents and promoting industrial innovation,” said Zhu Zhengqing, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in ChangZhou and Director of Changzhou Science and Education Town.“China is our best friend. Collaboration with Chinese universities should be our long-term plan,” Ahmad proposed.

“We have done a wonderful project in collaboration with China in hydropower energy. The Neelum-Jhelum project was a project of applied nature and can be studied for further research. Pakistani engineers have worked hard with Chinese counterparts and learned a lot.”

THE ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED ON THE CHINA ECONOMIC NET

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2023.

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