Daily Times

The Sindh government is of the view that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) is the right constitutional forum where the contentious issues between the provinces and the federation, which hampered the growth of renewable energy sector, should be referred for their amicable resolution for the sake of greater clean power generation in the country.

Sindh Law and Environment Adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab, who also acts as the spokesman for Sindh government, gave a statement to this effect while speaking as the chief guest at the 4th International Wind Energy Summit-2019, organised by the Energy Update. Murtaza Wahab said that the constitution clearly mandated the CCI to take up the issues concerning energy and electricity sectors as the federal government could not unilaterally take a decision on these subjects.

He said that contentious issues concerning the renewable energy projects like transmission, distribution of electricity produced by them, and their tariff determination should be resolved at the forum of CCI with consensus between the provinces and the Centre.

He said that due constitutional course should be adopted for resolving the problems between the provinces and the Centre as this method would only ensure resolution of all the issues no matter how much thorny they are. He said that public-private partnership mode of development would be utilised by the Sindh government to facilitate the renewable energy projects in the province, as earlier it had successfully commissioned the Thar coal and energy project under the same mode.

Murtaza Wahab said the Sindh government was fully committed to the cause of development and expansion of renewable energy sector as one of the innovations it had adopted in this regard was setting up of Sindh Transmission & Dispatch Company, which was the first such provincial company in the power sector of the country. The provincial adviser said that both private sector and government by combining their resources could overcome all the related issues to ensure maximum generation of clean electricity in the country.

Murtaza Wahab urges private sector to team up with government to ensure maximum generation of clean electricity

Earlier, in his keynote address on the occasion, Balochistan Energy Secretary Passand Khan Buledi said that serious reservations of Balochistan government over the draft of new renewable energy policy of the country were yet to be addressed by the federal government. He said that provincial government’s reservations over the draft policy existed to the extent that if the policy document was implemented in its present shape then it will not be much helpful in harnessing massive potential of the province to generate clean electricity through wind and solar power.

“Balochistan hasn’t produce a single megawatt of clean electricity, and the situation will not be much changed if the new renewable energy policy of the country is implemented in the present status without resolving the genuine grievances of the province regarding the policy document,” he said.

“You can call it any policy but you cannot call it a national policy if you simply cut out half of Pakistan from it,” said Buledi while complaining about Balochistan getting no special consideration in the draft of new renewable energy policy despite having Pakistan’s best wind corridor and sites for solar energy projects. He said that exploitation of natural resources of Balochistan in the past had not been much helpful in uplifting the socioeconomic status of the local population, as the situation would remain the same in the area of renewable energy too if the province didn’t get the due recognition and place in the new renewable energy policy of the country.

The Balochistan energy secretary said that when the initial draft of the new renewable energy policy was distributed among the provinces, Balochistan chief minister and he had written letters to the federal authorities concerned to apprise them of the reservations of the province about the draft policy. These reservations remained unresolved when the revised draft of the policy was later shared with the provinces, he said.

“The provinces are supposed to implement such a policy as in case provinces are not taken on board while finalising its draft then the [federal] government should not complain to anyone if the policy is not duly implemented,” he said. He said the roadmap contained in the draft renewable energy policy for generation and evacuation of alternative electricity had not taken into account the potential of solar and wind power of Balochistan. “We say that if renewable energy policy envisages 20 percent of electricity generation in the country on the basis of renewable power by the year 2025 while increasing the same ratio to 30 percent by the year 2030 then each of the provinces should exactly know how much clean energy they had to produce to meet this goal under the new policy,” he said.

He said that new renewable energy policy should give due protection to the letters of intent (LoIs) earlier issued by the provinces for wind and solar power projects so that they could be implemented in accordance with the previous policy regime. Giving example of the renewable energy potential of Balochistan, the provincial secretary said that up to 170,000 megawatts of solar power could be produced if only one percent of the total land mass of Balochistan was put to use for the purpose.

Brig Tariq Qadir Lakhair of Engro Energy said that Balochistan at present presented the best prospects available in the country to do investment in the renewable energy sector. He said that law enforcement agencies and the army in Balochistan had been providing utmost security to people visiting the province with the intention to launch wind and solar energy projects.

Mayura Botejue, consultant on renewable energy projects, in his presentation said that regulatory impediments were one of the main reasons for lack of investment, which was why wind and solar power in Pakistan didn’t account for more than five percent of the total electricity produced in the country.

He said that the government should clearly state its goals regarding expansion of the capacity of the country to produce renewable energy. He said that hybridisation of existing wind power plants was one of the methods to increase production of clean electricity along with the use of improved battery storage technology to harness the potential of solar power.

Naeem Qureshi, chairman of the organising committee of the summit, said that wind energy conference was held every year in order to gather under one roof all the relevant stakeholders related to the alternative energy sector so that they could together meaningfully discuss issues concerning clean electricity production in the country.