Punjab Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Mian Mahmood-ur-Rasheed has announced government’s plan to convert 60 per cent of power consumption to solar energy by 2030.
The minister was addressing the audience at a “Sungrow Power Day 2021 – Lahore Chapter, a grand event” organized by Sungrow, the global leading inverter solution supplier for renewables at a local hotel. Environment Protection Agency, Punjab, Director General (DG EPA) Ambreen Sajjad and Public-Private Partnership (PPP), Punjab, Chief Executive Amjad Ali Awan were guests of honor, while leading national and international companies’ experts and high officials also participated in the event.
The minister said that Punjab government had already initiated a robust plan with funds amounting to billions of rupees to convert universities, schools in remote districts of Punjab, all educational institutions and industrial units to renewable/solar energy in the province. “Another very encouraging trend in being witnessed where people are converting mosques in urban areas on solar energy on self-help basis,” he said, adding that a mosque, whose monthly electricity bill had exceeded Rs 500,000/month, had come down to zero besides earning additional income through sale of power to distribution companies through net-metering.
Similarly, he said, the sensitization among people in urban cities has been increasing and they were fast converting institutions, mosques, commercial units/shops and residences to solar power, which is extremely cost effective.
He said that federal government had implemented a very effective solar power policy in order to ensure provision of solar energy paraphernalia to the consumers on a very subsidized rate. “Pakistan is already producing 1,600 MW electricity through solar energy,” he added.
PPP Unit, Punjab, Chief Executive Amjad Ali Awan informed that up to 70 per cent generation of electricity in Pakistan was based on thermal energy, which explains the mega scale of carbon footprint in the country. “This is the time to benefit from solar energy, especially when 80 per cent of capital cost has been slashed since it was first introduced in the country,” he said, adding that solar energy has the cheapest tariff of 5 cents/watt available in Pakistan.
He said that the scalability of solar energy from KW to MW and to GW rests with renewable energy as Pakistan has come out of crisis of renewable energy generation. “Pakistan, however, is confronting affordability crisis now and may have to face the challenge of sustainability crisis in the near future,” he added.
DG EPA, Punjab, Ambreen Sajjad said that Pakistan had a global commitment to achieve target of green Pakistan, which was reiterated at recent COP26. In this respect, she said, Punjab government has launched two mega projects under Punjab Ujala Program for prevention and control of pollution and reduce carbon footprint. Under this program, as many as 4,200 schools and 2,327 Basic Health Units (BHUs) have been converted to solar power so far.
On the Power Day Seminar – Karachi and Lahore Chapters Dec 1st and Dec 7th, Sungrow expressed sincere gratitude to the supports from Pakistan government and all customers, presented awards for the most valued clients, and demonstrated its industry-leading products and comprehensive solutions. Moreover, Sungrow also achieved strategic cooperation with OES, a prolific contributor and initiator in promoting green energy in Pakistan. They signed 25MW inverter supply contract. The partnership will enhance Sungrow’s long-term and profound development in local renewable energy market and promote this country’s sustainable development.
Mr. Howard Fu, International Director, Sungrow said that the company was committed to providing clean and sustainable power solutions for customers. “By June, 2020, Sungrow achieved over 182GW+ installation worldwide, which altogether generated more than 257.3 billion kwh clean electricity and offset 205.8 tons of CO2 so far,” we are leading brand globally as well as locally in Pakistan with active 850MW of closed projects till now, he added.
Usman Waheed, Country Manager, Sungrow Pakistan, said that the company has been providing comprehensive solutions at all three tiers including utility scale, commercial & industrial scale and residential scale with least failure rate. Sungrow’s dedicated service also receives great satisfaction from local clients. With local sales and after sales support. In the future, Sungrow will explore more opportunities and provide clean power for more people in Pakistan.