Sindh Energy Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that the Rs 25 billion allocation in the new provincial budget for solar energy initiatives will go a long way in harnessing Sindh’s immense clean power potential to ensure the provision of affordable electricity to underprivileged communities.
Speaking at the Sindh Energy Diversity Conference, jointly organised by the Sindh Energy Department and Energy Update, the minister said the Sindh government had already begun developing solar parks in Karachi and Manjhand in District Jamshoro, while planning similar projects for Sukkur and Larkana. These solar parks, he said, aim to maximize the province’s renewable resources to supply low-cost, uninterrupted electricity to both domestic and industrial consumers. The minister reiterated that key provincial institutions like the Sindh Transmission and Dispatch Company (STDC) and Sindh Electric Power Regulatory Authority (SEPRA) would play a pivotal role in ensuring that clean, decentralized power reaches the end-users efficiently and economically.
He reaffirmed the provincial government’s strong commitment to unlocking the full potential of conventional and renewable energy in Sindh, stating that the province’s Thar coal, solar, and wind resources can serve as a game-changer for ensuring affordable electricity for industries and powering off-grid communities across Pakistan. A key outcome of the conference was the strong recommendation for the federal government to extend full cooperation in enabling Sindh’s renewable energy initiatives to benefit the national power mix. The conference urged Islamabad to facilitate policy coordination, remove transmission bottlenecks, and support provincial efforts to supply uninterrupted, stable, and affordable electricity to both domestic and industrial consumers.
The forum endorsed Sindh’s pioneering steps to create a decentralized energy ecosystem that encourages direct business-to-business (B2B) supply of clean electricity, particularly to industries struggling with high energy tariffs and load-shedding. Experts called upon other provinces to adopt a similar model to maximize their own indigenous energy resources and help Pakistan move toward self-reliance in the power sector. The conference strongly recommended that surplus electricity available in the country-particularly the untapped capacity of idle wind energy plants-should be immediately supplied to industries at subsidized rates to stimulate industrial growth and expand employment opportunities nationwide.
The conference also called for urgent policy measures to ensure a secure and investor-friendly environment, particularly for foreign energy investors from China. Participants noted that long-term investment in solar and wind technologies-critical for both industrial and residential applications-depends heavily on a stable security and policy framework. In addition, speakers recommended introducing favorable tax policies and incentives to promote the local manufacturing of renewable energy equipment such as solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, and inverters. They said such support would reduce import dependence and generate skilled jobs in the country. He called Thar coal the most successful public-private energy partnership in the country and stressed that it had also delivered a lasting socio-economic uplift for the communities of Tharparkar.
The conference particularly commended the Thar Foundation’s transformative work to ensure the uplift of underprivileged local populations alongside coal mining and power generation. It recommended that this approach serve as an ideal CSR benchmark for other energy sector projects across Pakistan to guarantee the inclusion, welfare, and long-term advancement of communities in and around their operational areas. Muhammad Zakir Ali, CEO of Inverex Solar Energy, underscored the importance of retaining Chinese investor confidence as critical partners in scaling up solar adoption across Sindh. He urged the government to prioritise facilitation and protection for investors involved in the deployment of clean energy technologies.
Engr. Irfan Ahmed, Energy Expert, Khalique Jaffrani, Chairman, SOGO Group, Ayesha Ahmed, Tariq Ali Shah MD Thar Coal & Energy Board, Khawaja Nizam Ud Din Mir, Manager Business Development, FFC Energy, Saleem Ahmed Sheikh , CEO STDC, Tufail Khoso COO Sindh Energy Holding Company, Dr. Nazir Abbas Zaidi Secretary OCAC, Muhammad Imtiaz, Director, Applied Systems Analysis Directorate, Yasir Hussain, Climate Action Plan, Abdur Rehman, Chief Trade Officer, Inverex EV, Rizwan Jafrani, Director – SOGO GROUP, Yasir Bhambhani, CEO, ADM Group China, Noman Alvi EVEE, Osama Shaikh CEO, E-Turbo and others also spoke on this occasion.
The conference concluded with a collective call for enhanced intergovernmental coordination, robust public-private partnerships, and bold energy reforms to position clean power as the driver of Pakistan’s industrial revival and equitable economic development.