Pakistan to reach generation of 1185 MW renewable energy by next month

KARACHI: Pakistan will reach to total generation capacity of 1,185 megawatts of renewable energy next month with the installation of the first wind power project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in Gharo.

Chief Executive Officer of the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) Amjad Ali Awan said in a press conference here.

He said that Pakistan was producing over 1,000 megawatts of electricity from renewable energy sources and had been listed 39th in the renewable energy index of the world.

The present installed power generation capacity from renewable energy sources stood at 1,135MW, which included 590MW from wind and 400MW from solar and 145MW from bagasse, which was available to sugar mills in northern Sindh and southern Punjab.

He said plans were afoot to increase power generation from solar and wind to 1,756MW and 1,000MW respectively within two years.

He expressed the hope that by 2019, the country would be producing 3,000MW electricity through renewable energy as its onward supply to the end consumers would be made on the basis of subsidised tariff, causing not much financial burden on users of clean electricity in their households and businesses.

He said that Gharo-Jhimpir wind corridor in Sindh alone had the potential of generating 32,000 MW to 35,000 MW electricity.

The board, he said, was facilitating the process of arranging finances from international donor agencies to build capacity of local distribution companies to evacuate electricity from renewable energy plants for onward transmission.

In reply to a question, he said the federal government had approved standards for safety and quality of solar cells being sold in the market and now there was a need to implement them with the help of stakeholders.