Daily Times

KARACHI: The experts and speakers at the 13th International Conference for Oil, Gas and Energy Industry POGEE 2017 have suggested power regulators in Pakistan to go for cheaper options and green energy in order to overcome its power crisis.

Addressing the 13th International Conference for Oil, Gas and Energy Industry held on the sideline of Pakistan Oil, Gas and Energy Exhibition (POGEE) 2017 here at Karachi Expo Centre, the Managing Director, Private Power and Infrastructure Board, Shahjahan Mirza said that Pakistan has a potential of producing over 100,000 MW power through clean energy due to availability of air corridors and sunlight for over 300 days a year. He hoped that the country would overcome load-shedding early next years and many power plants are in the pipelines and would be commencing their generation pretty soon.

DrIftikhar Ahmed of Sindh Department of alternative Energy said that his government aims at becoming the Energy Hub of Pakistan and self-sufficient in power generation and have export surplus by years 2020. He said that Sindh province has a potential of generating 55,000 MW from wind energy, 10,000 MW through solar power, 130 MW through hydel (run of river), 1,000 MW from bagasse and 500 MW from solid-waste. Regarding Coal Power Generation, the Director Projects on Coal Power, Ali Nawaz said that Pakistan is facing about 7,000 mega wattshortfall and it is increasing by 7 to 8 per cent per annum and will reach to over 10,000 MW by 2020. He said that power generation through coal has reached to over 40 per cent while it is only 0.2 per cent in Pakistan. Managing Director, Pakisgan Private Infrastructure Board, Shahjahan Mirza, Dy Executive Director, OGRA, Sajjad Hussain, Managing Director Siemens, Helmut von Struve, SGS Pakistan’s Hashim Khalid and others also spoke on the occasion.

The foreign exhibitors while expressing their pleasure over the visitors’ response to the Pakistan’s premier energy show – Pakistan Oil, Gas and Energy Exhibition (POGEE) 2017, as they remained busy in getting trade inquiries since the last two days. Chinese exhibitors who have offered prompt and cheaper power solutions are more content with the outcome of the mega event. Shen Hua of MHPS DongFang Ltd, China, said that he is dealing with the visitors in a real professional environment and received may trade inquiries. MoriusBica of Kalhour, Romania said that everything is good here and he was busy in getting trade inquiries from local industrialists. He said that Pakistan can acquire many power solutions in order to overcome its power crisis in real short time. He said that his company is ready to provide various solutions in alternative energy that would be cheaper and need comparatively short time to start generation. Wang Kai of HuanyuElectric, has commented over the ongoing power crisis in Pakistan that there are many short term solutions are available in the market and government and private sector organizations can resolve their issues individually or collectively. He advised that Pakistan people should go for cheap and green energy like solar power or wind energy as its sources are available in abundance locally. Anil Berky of Durulsan, Turkey said that trade inquirers response is satisfactory and many industrialists and individuals who got fed up with power outages are keen to adopt easy and cheaper option here. Tomorrow is the third and last day of the mega event.