Nawaz Sharif’s government is considering three more feasibility studies after 24 letters of intent for solar schemes were issued. Sharif’s rural electrification program is continuing apace.
Pakistan’s Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) announced it has approved the feasibility study for the first of 24 solar projects for which letters of intent have been issued.
News agency APP reported on Tuesday of the 24 projects concerned, which have a cumulative 793 MW capacity, three further feasibility studies are under consideration by the AEDB with the remainder yet to be submitted.
Quoting an unnamed AEDB source, the APP report stated the first phase of the Quaid-e-Azam solar project would generate 100 MW with two subsequent phases adding a further 300 MW and 600 MW, respectively.
With 3,000 solar home systems installed in 49 villages in the Tharparkar district of the country’s Sindh province, the AEDB is planning to install systems in a further 51 villages in the province and in 3,000 villages in neighbouring Balochistan under prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Solar Village Electrification Program.
The AEDB source added, the Pakistani government had issued duty exemption certificates to private companies for 64.57 MW worth of solar projects nationwide as well as import duty exemptions for 1,429 solar water heating systems and 16,715 solar water heaters, for use in Balochistan, the autonomous region of Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Northern Punjab.
