Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan’s production of Renewable Energy (RE), also known as green energy is increasing with every passing day and its total installed capacity of Renewable Energy (RE) would reach up to 2626 MW by December, 2018, Daily Times learnt.

“In addition, 2,600 MW would be added by 2019-20 with new wind power projects of 1200 MW capacity and solar power projects of around 1400 MW capacity each are being planned to be developed,” Amjad Ali Awan, Chief Executive Officer, Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) told a group of journalists who were on visit at Jhimpir wind power projects based in Sindh’s Thatta district.

AEDB is the focal agency of Federal Ministry of Water and Power mandated with the promotion and development of Alternative & Renewable Energy Technologies in the country. Awan said Pakistan was taking serious measures to harness the available Renewable Energy (RE) potential of the country to diversify its energy mix and ensure energy security and sustainable development in the country. “RE sector of Pakistan becomes investment destination for private investors and has attracted a foreign investment of more than US 4.6 billion,” he added.

He claimed that with the continued efforts of AEDB in last couple of year, Pakistan for the first time was included in the top 40 globally most attractive countries for renewable energy investment as per the E&Y Renewable Energy Attractiveness Index (RECAI) issue, produced by Ernst & Young, May 2016.

“Based upon the latest RECA Index issued by E&Y, Pakistan’s ranking has been tremendously improved from previous 38 to present 25 number. This is strong indicator showing consistent progress of Pakistan in terms of its attractiveness for the investors in the alternative energy sector,” he added.

Resource Mapping: Awan informed that AEDB in cooperation with World Bank is implementing a Renewable Energy Resource Mapping activity covering all of Pakistan. The project is funded by World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and focuses on the assessment of wind, solar and biomass resources, including ground-based data collection, GIS analysis, and geospatial planning.

Based upon the ground based data, the latest version of sole maps are developed first times in Pakistan. These Solar maps give an overall idea of power generation potential in the country based upon solar energy resources.

“Regarding wind energy resources in the country, the wind data is being collected through installed wind masts and the wind maps are expected to be released by next year,” he added.

Published in Daily Times, September 21^st 2017.