KARACHI - If Denmark could achieve up to 56 per cent of its power generation through renewable resources and by the year 2035, 100 per cent of its power production through clean sources of energy; the same is easily be achievable by Pakistan given that it adopts a strong political will and consistency in policies for the energy sector.

The Danish Ambassador to Pakistan Rof Michael Hay Pereira Holmboe stated this here on Wednesday in his keynote address in the inaugural session of second International Wind Energy Summit organized by Energy Update in collaboration with Sindh Government’s Energy Department and Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB).

The Danish ambassador said on the occasion that natural climatic conditions in Pakistan especially in its identified regions in Sindh and Balochistan were much favourable to produce electricity using renewable means of power than the similar conditions available to Demark. “What I learnt that Pakistan at present is just producing 1.5 per cent of its electricity through renewable means is quite a dismal figure given the favorable conditions available in the country. That is quite low figure as Pakistan has to actively make progress to produce much more electricity using the alternative means,” he said.

He said that Pakistani government had to make a choice whether to continue using expensive conventional fuels for power generation or switch to the cheaper means for energy generation through alternative means.

He said that once Pakistan resorted to clean sources of energy, the cost of power production would ultimately decrease so to lessen the burden of energy sector on the economy. While that option would also be helpful in improving environmental conditions in the country and resolving serious issues like smog currently prevailing in the province of Punjab, he said.

He said that countries in the region like India and China seemed to have adopted policies in the energy sector that would enhance their reliance on alternative means for power production as Pakistan had to pursue the same path.

The Danish envoy said that Denmark had made a choice in the middle of decade of 1970s to go for the option for exploring renewable means instead of opting for nuclear power production or any other conventional means of energy production using hydrocarbon fuels. That choice was made when Denmark like other countries in the region had been facing an oil crisis. This choice proves very much successful for the country as now Denmark as considered as the leader in the global community maximally relying on wind energy to produce cheaper electricity, said the Danish ambassador.

He said that Denmark was fully willing to assist Pakistan to more effectively explore and utilize its potential for power generation through renewable means as Danish technologies and products were being used by a number of countries for the same cause.

Holomboe suggested that one such option for Pakistan could be installation of offshore wind power projects near the coast of Karachi similar to such experiments currently being done by many Northern European countries.  

Rashid Hussain Kazi, special secretary of Sindh Government’s Energy Department, said that Gharo-Jhimpir wind corridor was at present producing 788 Megawatts of renewable energy while a matching volume of renewable energy production would be achieved by next year on basis of new projects being installed in the same wind corridor.

Sajjad M Qureshi, senior advisor to National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tariff , said the Nepra would soon be opting for conventional competitive regime for determining tariff for upcoming wind energy projects in the country given that all the formalities were completed by the provincial governments concerned and AEDB.

Danish Iqbal, president of Pakistan Wind Energy Association, said that relevant agencies of the govt and Nepra should not make upcoming wind power projects to unduly wait to become operational on the account of tariff-related issues and other formalities hampering the process to utilize potential of the province to generate clean electricity.

Speaking as the chief in the concluding session, Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that provinces should be granted maximum autonomy in the regime of energy sector as the per the spirit of 18th Constitutional Amendment for effectively resolving energy crisis of the country.

He said that provinces should also be made independent in affairs related to determination of tariff, transmission, and distribution affairs for the power projects being developed in their respective jurisdictions. He said that 100 MWs Nooriabad power plant being first power project of Sindh government got delayed due to issues related to transmission of electricity to the grid as the relevant federal authorities didn’t provide much help to provincial govt in this regard.  

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