ISLAMABAD: Chinese researchers from the Biomass Energy Technology Research Centre have conducted a study on Pakistan’s potential to generate bioelectricity through technology.
Dr. Fouzia Malik, a researcher from the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), told WealthPK that the Centre has carried out a study on Pakistan’s potential to generate bioelectricity through technology in order to overcome the energy shortfall.
‘‘According to the Biomass Energy Technology Research Centre study, biomass resources have the potential to generate 20,709MW electricity and 12,615 million cubic meters of biogas annually through the use of technology. According to the Chinese researchers, as an agricultural country, Pakistan has the potential to generate energy using technology from other alternates such as agricultural resides and animal manure.
Pakistan annually produces 427MT animal manure, 121 MT agricultural residues and 7.5MT municipal cooperation waste (MSW). All of these forms of waste provide a variety of bioenergy options. All these options can be utilized to produce bio-fuels and bio-electricity, as stated in the study by Chinese researchers,’’ Fouzia said. She said Chinese researchers had also mentioned that Pakistan should shift to the alternative energy production methods amid the growing energy crisis. It was also suggested that biomass was one of the alternatives with an enormous potential. Pakistan is currently using the fossil fuels which dominate the energy sector but this source of energy is also depleting, Fouzia said.
Talking to WealthPK, Muhammad Ismail Bhabha, PSO to the minister for energy, said though China’s study on the use of technology for bioelectricity production was highly enticing, its practical implementation was hindered by affordability concerns.
“The Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) promotes and facilitates the development and implementation of alternative and renewable energy technologies in the country. The projects involving solar energy and green energy technology are getting more importance than the coal projects,’’ he said.
Speaking with WealthPK about the availability of LNG (liquefied natural gas) to alleviate the power shortfall, Ismail said the petroleum section of the Ministry of Energy was working to finalise the LNG agreement.
Managing Director of Pakistan State Oil recently said the state-owned company successfully managed five furnace oil and two LSFO (Low Sulfur Fuel Oil) cargoes, so there was no need to be concerned about power generation in July He said the PSO will import five LNG cargoes from Qatar at 13.375 percent of the Brent under the 15-year GtG agreement and three cargoes at 10.2 percent of the Brent under the 10-year GtG deal with Qatar.
The Department of Energy Technology, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) Sweden in collaboration with the COMSATS institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Lahore has conducted a study on Pakistan’s potential to generate electricity that will also help overcome the current shortfall of electricity.
According to the study, there is an opportunity to generate micro-hydro systems in the northern areas of Pakistan, as they are highly suitable for them. To be specific, researchers from the department of energy technology KTH and CIIT have mentioned that these micro-hydro systems can help Pakistan generate 300MW electricity. This represents also another way of creating bio-electricity.
–INP
