Daily Times

The provincial Energy department and Go Energy Pvt Limited have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for laying off 500 Megawatts floating solar energy project on Keenjhar Lake in Thatta district.

The MoU signing ceremony was held here at a local hotel on Thursday, which was attended by Sindh Minister for Energy Syed Nasir Hussain Shah.

Secretary Energy Mossadiq Ahmed Khan, CEO-STDC Salim Shaikh, CEO-Go Green Amar Ali Talat and Director K-Electric Haris Siddiqui were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, the energy minister said that the Go Energy Pvt Limited was working on the project with the cooperation of Sindh Tourism Development Corporation (STDC) and Irrigation Department Sindh. This project is Pakistan’s first and World’s largest solar power project, Shah added.

He said the K- Electric will lay 60 kilometer long 220 KV transmission line from STDC Keenjhar Lake Power Project to K-Electric Grid Station Dhabeji, Karachi.

Shah said that K-Electric was the off-taker of the 500 MW floating power project for which K-Electric had provided Letter of Intent (LOI) and Energy Department also provided a Letter of Intent (LOI).

He said that this project was environment-friendly as it would help prevent water evaporation and would be beneficial for aquatic life.

Minister said that project will also benefit land conservation, promote green energy in Sindh and also provide source of affordable electricity for general public.

He said this project will boost the economy of Sindh province by creating jobs.

Shah said that Sindh Government is determined and trying hard to utilize these renewable resources at a faster pace and our effort is to reduce the overall basket tariff of NEPRA and make it more affordable electricity for the common people of the country. Apart from tariff reduction, renewable energy will also contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals to create a clean, reliable and sustainable environment and hope to complete the project by the end of 2026.

Secretary Energy Mossadiq Ahmad Khan said that on the special directives of Minister Energy, work was underway on several projects to provide cheap and free electricity to the people.

He added that mini-grid stations will be set up at the district level to provide affordable and environment-friendly electricity to the remote areas of Sindh.

Secretary Energy said the cost of electricity generated from this floating plant will be Rs.15 per unit which will be much low price than other power generation plants. Chief Executive Officer STDC Salim Shaikh said as compared to K-Electric, STDC’s line would not be tripped while STDC’s line losses have never gone above 1.6%, NEPRA has allowed line losses up to 2%.

Go Energy Chief Officer Amar Ali Talat said that Keenjhar is the world’s largest clean water lake where a floating project has been developed with the support of Government of Sindh Energy Minister Syed Nasir Shah and K-electric and the MoU was signed today and he was thankful to all the contributors.