By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Federal Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan Wednesday said that the government has devised the alternative energy policy and the power costs will come down in future.
He was addressing a press conference alongside with Special Assistant to Prime Minister Nadeem Babar.
The power tariffs went up due to the past policies, which will go downward in future, the minister said.
Keeping the electricity rates down is flagship policy of the government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Omar Ayub Khan further said.
During the PML-N tenure the electricity generation became as expensive as Rs 17 per unit, the minister said.
The new alternative energy policy will help to generate inexpensive electricity with wind and solar sources, the minister said.
The country have immense sources for generation of alternative energy, which will help bringing the power prices down in Pakistan, Omar Ayub Khan said.
Investors are arriving from Germany and Japan to invest in manufacturing of solar panels and US$ 700 million being invested in the wind power, the minister said. Around 8000 megawatts power projects will be installed in Pakistan by 2025 and the government has set a target of 60 to 65 percent clean and green energy in the country by year 2030, Ayub said.
Special Assistant to PM Nadeem Babar said that the present government was taking efforts for manufacturing of the machinery in the country, which we are currently importing from abroad.
Promotion of solar and wind power would also have positive impact over the foreign exchange reserves, he said.
The government also working for domestic manufacturing of the machinery for alternative and renewable energy.
Agencies add: Minister for Power Division Omar Ayub Khan on Wednesday said that around 8,000MW and 20,000MW clean, environment-friendly and cheap Renewable Energy (RE) would be added to the system by 2025 and 2030 respectively under the new Alternative Renewable Energy Policy 2019 approved by the federal cabinet.
Addressing at a press conference with Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar here, the minister said that share of clean and green energy would be enhanced to 60-65 per cent of total energy mix by 2030. The policy aimed at substantively reducing electricity prices in the future, he added. The minister said that the RE sector alone has over $40 billion investment opportunities adding that $700 million investment was pouring in 12 wind energy projects. The government initiatives would not only help reduce electricity prices in future, but also boost industrial activities resulting surge in exports and create employment opportunities in the country, he said.
Omar said that under the policy, solar panels and wind turbine would also be manufactured in the country and for which negotiation was under process with foreign companies. He said the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government had killed all RE projects in order to pay way for setting up expensive LNG projects. Regarding power sector performance, the minister said, the power sector revenue jumped to record Rs229 billion. Giving the breakup, he said out of total, Rs111 billion was collected through system efficiency by curbing power theft and remaining Rs118 billion through tariff determination. Nadeem Babar said for the first time, the RE policy draft was prepared after consultation with all stakeholders including public, experts, provinces and international agencies.
