PESHAWAR - The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Energy and Power Department will launch two solar power projects to overcome the energy shortfall and provide cheap electricity to 200 villages by spending Rs550 million this year, officials told The Nation here on Sunday.
Of the total allocated Rs550 million, the provincial government’s share is 90 percent and local community will bear rest of the share. As per the approved projects, the solar power will be ensured to 5,650 off-grid households in 200 villages, they explained.
In other words, these projects would be completed in villages that are not connected to the National Electric Grid and have no access to electricity at all. It would certainly increase productivity, better quality of life and access to more technologies by locals.
Installation of one of the two projects, for central and southern districts, would start in coming June. It would cost Rs300 million. A total of 2900 households in 100 villages would be the beneficiaries in Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swabi, Mardan, Kohat, Hangu, Bannu, D.I. Khan, Tank, Lakki Marwat and Karak districts, the officials explained.
Likewise, the second project is for 2750 households in 100 villages and would also start in June in northern districts of the province. It would cost Rs250 million. The 100 villages that are not connected with the electricity grid in Malakand, Swat, Shangla, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Chitral, Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Kohistan, Batagram and Buner districts would be provided solar power under this project, they added.
Solar power is the technology of obtaining usable energy from the light of the sun. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, its use has become very popular in the absence of other power supplies.
These schemes are part of the Green Growth Initiative launched a year ago in Peshawar by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, adding the initiative is aimed at boosting economic development in a way that uses natural resources sustainably, by increasing uptake of clean energy and forest cover.
Under the project each household would receive technical components which would include two solar PV modules, two batteries, two LED lights and one each DC ceiling fan, DC pedestal fan and mobile charges outlet, the officials concluded.