The United States Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been engaged with the Government of Pakistan over the past several decades to create clean, sustainable energy projects and activities helping to develop Pakistan’s environmental and natural resources.
These programs with Pakistan include hydroelectric projects, which not only generate renewable electricity but play a vital role in Pakistan’s overall economy.
These views were expressed by Don McCubbin, Director of USAID’s Energy Office, in a recent webinar by USAID regarding “Earth Day” held in Islamabad.
“Issues like climate change, water shortages and air pollution are directly linked to Earth-Day” Mr. McCubbin said. “Pakistan is challenged to face the upcoming climate changes due to its geographical location.”
Pakistan is one of the countries where highest temperatures are recorded. People face water shortages and environmental issues which directly affect their lives, he added.
“To address such issues, the Pakistan and US Governments have been working on projects to generate electricity without pollution and overcome water storage.” he said. These projects are helping to produce water supplying to peoples’ homes and improving the agriculture sector.
In addition, Mr. McCubbind said that in the past most part of the energy in Pakistan was generated by fossil fuels which caused pollution. Now, these USAID-Government of Pakistan energy programs produce renewable energy to minimize the environmental impact and help turn Pakistan into a clean and green country. In fact, during the 1960s and 1970s, the United States Government was one of the major contributors for the construction of Mangla and Tarbela Hydroelectric Dams, which more than doubled Pakistan’s electricity generation capacity.
Mr. McCubbin also said that the US also had been working with the Government of Pakistan developing wind-generated energy in Sindh Province.
“We have been engaged to building hydroelectric projects in different parts of the country,” he said, adding that the Tarbela Hydroelectric Power Station, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, has a power generation capacity of nearly 3,500 MW and Golen Gol Hydropower project, which was completed in 2020, has added an additional 108 MW of generation capacity to the national grid. Both are also important examples of US-Pakistan partnership programs in the energy field.
Mr. McCubbin also noted that under the USAID-Pakistan partnership program, $171 million has been spent on the Tarbela, Gomal Zam, Satpara and Golen Gol hydropower projects. In addition, there are three ongoing projects including Kaitu Weir, and the Tarbela and Mangla Dam rehabilitations projects costing $256 million.
“There are a series of projects in the green energy sector, which USAID has been working on that are in progress,” Mr. McCubbin said. “There is a lot to be done in the energy sector, which will definitely bring about a positive change in Pakistan.”
Nadeem Habib, USAID’s Energy Project Management Specialist said that technical assistance has also built the capacity of the country in the energy sector, which will benefit the population as a whole.
“Getting direct aid from any country is never sustainable, so we are supporting Pakistan in building its own capacity to implement and operationalize different projects which would be helpful for long term bases,” he said.
However, hydroelectric projects are not the only programs USAID has supported with the Government of Pakistan. USAID also partnered with the Government of Pakistan on 11 wind energy and four solar energy projects, which together add 860 MW of clean energy to the national grid, he said. These projects will help Pakistan meet its goal of having 30 percent of the national energy supply from renewable and clean energy resources.
USAID has also participated in energy transmission and distribution in Pakistan, such as the Champee Transmission line.
“We have worked with the Pakistani government to build the capacity of the National Transmission and Despatch Company to expand the institution,” Mr. Habib said. “USAID has also been working with energy distribution companies to bring in new technologies, such as smart electricity meters, which were introduced in 2013-14 by USAID in collaboration with Pakistani government to continue to improve the transmission and distribution sector.”
Mr. Habib also addressed electricity losses that have plagued Pakistan’s power sector for years.
“We have launched a pilot project in Peshawar where existing cable was replaced with anti-theft cable, a type of cable where one cannot hook wire illegally,” Mr. Habib said. “This saved the Peshawar Electric Supply Company millions in revenue.”
In conclusion, Mr. Habib emphasized the possibility of privatization to help the government address several issues in the country’s energy sector.”