Agri varsity to set up solid waste power plant

5MW pollution-free plant will serve as model for other institutions.

FAISALABAD: The University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), in collaboration with a private firm, is developing a master plan for setting up a five-megawatt solid waste power generating plant, which will make the university free from pollution and the first green institute in the country.

UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad discussed this in a meeting with a delegation of Vita Pakistan, led by its President Mahboob Ali Manji, along with a technical team.

Ahmad said making UAF a ‘green campus’ would serve as a model for other institutions and was aimed at ending pollution from the country.

“Pollution is a cause for grave concern and it is the need of the hour to accelerate efforts to remove the curse from the country,” he said.

“Educational institutions should spread knowledge about different ways of power generation in order to help the government overcome the energy crisis,” Ahmad suggested.

President of Vita Pakistan, a food, beverages and dairy company, Mahboob Ali Manji pointed out that production of geothermal electricity was on the rise across the globe and with the help of this technology, Pakistan could generate cheapest power, costing only six cents per unit while thermal power cost 18 cents per unit.

He said southern coastal area of the country was spread over 1,300 kms, which has the potential to run 15 wind power units in a kilometre to generate 75 megawatts of electricity.

He said the required speed of wind to run power units was 8 km per hour whereas the wind speed in the coastal area was 50 km per hour – a gift of nature that must be utilised.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2012.