Study planned to promote solar water heaters

AEDB, World Bank join hands to encourage use of renewable energy.

KARACHI: The Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) will undertake a two-phase study in collaboration with the World Bank for promoting and introducing solar water heaters in Pakistan, a step that will divert some demand away from conventional sources of energy.

For the study, AEDB has signed an agreement with the World Bank, the overall objective and purpose of which is to develop a national programme to replace gas geysers with solar water heaters. It will identify potential areas for intervention and determine technical, financial, economic and social viability of the intervention under different implementation models.

The study also includes testing of programme through practical demonstration of models in different areas and regions.



The study, to be implemented in two phases – the design phase and the pilot phase, will be conducted by Electra Consultants in association with Integration Environment and Energy of Germany.

To mark the occasion, AEDB CEO Arif Alauddin said the government was taking all possible steps to introduce alternative and renewable energy technologies in an effort to reduce reliance on conventional energy sources. “The world is moving fast to adopt these emerging technologies and Pakistan is also determined to catch up with the countries going ahead,” he said.

He pointed out that the government had already exempted solar water heaters from customs duty and sales tax. So far, over 12,000 heaters have been imported, which are used all over the country especially in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and northern Punjab.

Some Pakistani companies are also manufacturing solar water heaters and more companies are expected to go into this business in the future.

Alauddin stressed that alternative energy resources were no more considered an alternative to conventional resources, but “are now being seen as main energy resources for the future.”

He said AEDB had been supporting the private and public sectors, especially provincial governments, for on-grid and off-grid application of solar energy. So far, on-grid projects with capacity of over 250 megawatts are at various stages of development.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2013.

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