KARACHI:A new power sector policy will soon be introduced by the present PTI federal government to remove all constraints of the electricity transmission system, which have been responsible for hampering the growth of renewable energy sector in the country for last many years.
The assurance to this effect came from Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Power Sector Shahzad Qasim while speaking as the chief guest at the concluding session of 17th World Wind Energy Conference-2018. The three-day conference organized by the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) concluded on Friday.
The PM’s special assistant said on the occasion that present government in collaboration with the concerned stakeholders of power sector would strive to increase the share of renewable power generation up to 20 per cent of the national energy mix.
He said the present government had the fullest realization that renewable energy despite being intermittent in nature was the cheapest source of power generation.
He assured the audience of the conference that the government would come up with a national energy policy for the country in the shortest possible time to undo mistakes of the past regime, which stonewalled growth of the renewable energy sector.
“We could take some time to unveil the new energy policy, but it would be devised in a manner that once implemented, it would not attract criticism from the concerned quarters,” he said.
Qasim appreciated that despite all the obstacles posed during the past regimes, power generation in the country from wind energy sector alone had crossed the mark of 1,000 Megawatts.
In his special audio message for the audience of World Wind Energy Conference, Federal Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan reiterated the resolve of his government to make alternative power generation a larger portion of energy basket of Pakistan.
“We sincerely believe that the renewables will make the energy matrix especially the cost of energy more competitive for industries and energy consumers in Pakistan,” said Khan in his special audio message.
He expressed the resolve of his government to attract foreign direct investment in the energy sector of Pakistan as all state policies would be proactive in this regard. The federal minister assured the audience that the federal government would soon come up with a new alternative energy policy for the country.
Also speaking via a video link at the conference, Member (Energy) of Planning Commission of Pakistan Tahawar Hussain assured the audience that the government would adopt a policy to give top priority to renewable energy resources for further increasing power generation capacity of the country.
He said that planning was afoot in the power sector of the country to increase the share of renewable electricity generation to 30 per cent of the national energy mix by the year 2030.
WWEA Secretary General Stefan Gsanger said: “Pakistan’s skilled and qualified engineers clearly had the ability to increase its renewable power generation to the exemplary extent being done in countries of Europe like Denmark and Germany.”
“For this all you need is a clear direction and clear political decision-making. You can also learn from the experiences of the neighbouring countries like China and bring the required expertise and technologies from there. No further excuse is acceptable in this regard,” he said.
He said that Denmark and Germany despite tremendously increasing their energy dependency on wind and solar power had an average electricity blackout time of just 10 minutes in a year. Gsanger noted with satisfaction that at present wind power accounted for five per cent electricity generation being taking place all over the world.
CEO of Alternative Development Board (AEDB), Pakistan Amjad Ali Awan said that renewable energy generation in the country during his tenure at the AEDB had increased from mere 264 MWs to 1164 MWs in the last couple of years.
He said that feasibility studies were being conducted to incrementally increase renewable energy generation in the country, as this included exploration of new wind corridors.
Danish Iqbal, an investor in the wind energy sector of Pakistan, suggested that the government should allow the private sector to invest in the electricity transmission sector while making it responsible to fully run and manage it.
He said that such a decision would not only decrease losses of transmission lines in the country but allow maximum expansion of the renewable energy sector.
He said that National Transmission and Dispatch Company had been sitting on such a proposal for last five years but to no avail. “A very bankable concession document of Matiari-Lahore Transmission Line is available in the country as we have to make progress in this direction while subscribing to it,” said Iqbal.
A resolution was also read out at the conclusion of the World Wind Energy Conference, which emphasised that wind and renewable energy are now broadly understood as lowest-cost solutions which have the potential to foster sustainable economic growth, to overcome energy poverty, and to strengthen resilience, autonomy and prosperity of communities.
The resolution calls for creating fair market conditions including removing all direct and indirect subsidies from fossil energies. It recognises that there are still manifold barriers in developing countries that hinder the fast deployment of wind power, including unreliable remuneration systems, bureaucratic barriers and shortage in grid capacity to evacuate electricity produced in wind farms. The conference urges governments to encounter these barriers effectively.
“The Conference understands that realising the huge potential of wind and the other renewable energies requires clear, reliable and positive policies. The lack of regulatory and political continuity has a harmful impact on the sector across the supply chain, from manufacturing, planning, construction, operation up to the finance,” said the resolution.
Later, WWEA President Peter Rae awarded World Wind Energy Award-2018 to Honourary Vice President of the association Air Marshal (retired) Shahid Hamid to recognize his services to promote renewable energy in Pakistan.