By Hina Kiyani
ISLAMABAD: Speakers at the second International Conference on Pakistan Hydropower Sector on Wednesday stressed the need to harness hydropower potential in the country for adding more clean and green electricity to the national grid system for sustainable economic growth.
They were of the view that Pakistan was blessed with huge hydel and renewable energy (RE) generating resources and it was a dire need to exploit all these resources for generating clean and green energy.
The conference which was organized by Energy Update with the collaboration of Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and International Hydropower Association (IHA) to discuss more opportunities to produce cheap and clean energy from hydro sector and to foster renewable energy resources in mitigating the climate change.
Appreciating the efforts of the organizers of the conference, Minister of State for Power Division Hashim Notezai said under the vision of Prime Miniser Shehbaz Sharif, the incumbent government pays special attention on producing energy from indigenous resources especially hydel, wind and solar in order to minimize reliance of imported fuel.
Assuring full support of the government, he invited the investors to come forward and invest in clean and green energy.
There are greater opportunities in the energy sector of Pakistan and the investors should take benefits from it, he said.
Managing Director PPIB Dr Shahjahan Mirza said that his organization had successfully added over 18,000 Megawatt (MW) electricity to the national grid so far through Independent Power Producers (IPPs) which was around 50 percent of the total installed capacity. The PPIB is providing one window facilities to the investors and lenders in this regard, he said.
He went on to say that currently, the share of hydel was 25 percent in the energy mix, followed by six percent solar and 69 percent of thermal. The government has now set a target of 62 percent of energy through RE and hydel resources, he added.
Dr Mirza said that the government also intended to increase reliance of indigenous resources and wanted to induce more green energy in the system in the next 10 years.
He added that a concrete roadmap was devised in this regard and it was first step that all projects were being awarded through competitive bidding.
However, he said that private sector’s role in hydropower sector at global level was very limited. The China’s private sector has made huge investment in hydropower sector of Pakistan and recent 720 MW Karot hydropower project has been commissioned on June 29, 2022 with a cost of $ 1.2 billion under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Work has also been carried out on 1100 MW Kohala hydropower project under CPEC, he added.
He said that Pakistan has identified hydropower potential stood at 65,000 MW besides additional 21,000 MW from Gilgit-Baltistan. However, he said GB has not yet connected through national grid system of National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) and it would take around 5-6 years.
He said PPIB has attracted huge foreign investment from UK, Korea and other countries in energy generating projects, CEO Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO) engineer Muhammad Naeem said dams and drains for mitigating of climate issue was the theme of the conference. Pakistan was a bless country having surplus water and energy resources, he added.
However, he said we could not plan to exploit the hydropower potential in the country in the last 75 year. No doubt climate change has some effect but we could mitigate its effects through proper planning, he added.
He said we could not cope with climate change unless we stored and conserved water There was dire need of more concentration on planning of water storage and development of hydropower projects.
Naeem said that PEDO under public private partnership, has planned various small hydropower projects in remote areas having around 2,500 MW capacity which would start power supply in next 10 years.
He said PEDO has completed solarization of many mosques, schools, basic health units and over 6000 house holds so far in KPK.
Aamir Bashir CEO Diamer Basha dam said that WAPDA had tapped around 9,400 MW hydel generation so far and the working on more mega projects was being carried out to store 11 million acre feet (MAF) water besides generation 16,000 MW electricity. He said that WAPDA was building mega projects including Diamer Basha, Mohmand and Dasu dams to enhance water storage capacity in the country.
Chairman National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Tauseef H Farooq while speaking on the occasion, said that he was a big supporter of hydropower projects in the country adding that NEPRA was fully committed to promoting indigenous resource based affordable electricity to the consumers. He said currently, the total country’s installed power generation capacity stood at 43,000 MW but it was mostly based on imported fuel. He said that he had suggested the past government to include hydro in the classification of RE. He told the government has also devised a plan to completely change the current energy mix and generate over 65 percent electricity through indigenous resources including hydel, solar, wind etc.
Minister of Energy and Water Azad Jammu and Kashmir Chauhdary Arshad said that energy crisis could be overpowered with tapping more and more hydel potential in various parts of Pakistan and AJK. He said AJK has also huge hydropower energy potential which needed to be exploited for economic and agriculture growth.
CEO International Hydropower Association Eddie Rich said that hydropower was growing but not at fast pace globally. Hydropower was a clean and green energy which needed to be promoted at fast track, he said. He said that there was a huge potential of hydropower at global level which needed to be exploited. The existing hydro fleet has also need to be urgently modernized, he said.
Earlier in his welcome address, Chairman organizing committee Naeem Qureshi said that the conference was being organized to discuss on progress Pakistan and the region had achieved in the hydro power sector. He said the conference would prove a milestone in promotion of hydropower not only in the country but also in the region.
Dr. Munawar Iqbal, DG Hydro PPIB, Mohd Fauzi Bin Shafie, CEO, TNB Remaco Pakistan Pvt Ltd, Senior Advisor CSAIL NA Zuberi, Dr. Tahir Masood, Managing Director, NESPAK, Imran Halim, Chief Engineer, PEDO, Khattar AbdulKhalek, Head of Business Development and Acting GM for Aerodyne KSA, Muhammad Asad Imran, Country Manager, DOLSAR Engineering Pakistan, Fahd Bin Zafar, MM Pakistan (MMP), Sohail Butt, Former DMD, PSO and others also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the importance of hydropower for sustainable development.
