The wind corridor will add 1,000 megawatts electricity to the national grid by 2018, as more investors are coming together wind energy. This was stated by Colonel Muzaffar Hussain (Retd), General Manager Plants Foundation Wind Energy Limited (FWEL).
The State of Wind Power and Energy Projects in Pakistan
Although the possible production capacity is enormous, it is the weak and obsolete power transmission system that is proving to be a major hurdle for generation plants operating at full capacity, according to Col. Mazaffar, who was talking to a group of journalists visiting courtesy of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
He said Pakistan’s wind corridor in the district of Thatta has the potential to generate up to 50,000 MWs electricity, which will be sufficient enough to meet the country’s power demands for years.
Balochistan’s coastal areas also have huge potential for alternative green energy but lack infrastructure facilities. The government has not conducted any survey in this regard, said Muzaffar. Interestingly, when the plants were installed and made operational, they tripped 200 times due to the poor transmission system. In the area, wind plants of 200 MW have been installed and another 200 are under construction. The government has set a target of 1000 MW by 2018.
Investor Confidence Regarding Wind Power Initiatives in Pakistan
Col. Muzaffar stated that Fauji Foundation is pioneering renewable energy initiatives. He revealed that when the company first started work on the project, investors were hesitant to invest but after successful completion of projects there, the confidence of investors soared. Now a number of local and foreign investors are taking keen interest in this sector.
He said different local investors namely Yunus, Gul Ahmad, Tapal and Metro are also investing in wind power projects. Giving details about the FWEL-I, II, Mr. Muzaffar elaborated that these projects involve construction, erection and operation of 100 MW of wind generation capacity, at Kutti Kun thats close to the port city of Karachi.
He said under the project, electricity will be sold to the national grid under a 20-year agreement. It would pay back its total investment within 10 years and after that the cost per unit from wind energy would be about Rs 6 while currently its cost is around Rs 10.9 per unit, as the government recently reduced it from Rs 14.
The two projects will cost $125 million each in which foreign component is 66% while local component is 34%
The two projects [I and II] will cost $125 million each in which foreign component is 66 percent while local component is 34 percent. ADB is the lead foreign lender while National Bank of Pakistan is the lead local lender. He said that equity financing for the project was arranged by Fauji Foundation (20 percent), Fauji Fertiliser Bin Qasim (35 percent), CapAsia (A Malaysian private equity firm 25 percent) and Tapal Group (20 percent).
He said that each wind tower has maximum electricity generating capacity of 2.5 MW and overall average yield efficiency is about 33 percent while the efficiency ratio in solar energy is only 18 percent. He said during its first year, the FWEL-II generated 114.5 GW of electricity against the target of 143 GW.
He said currently 132 kV transmission lines have been installed to transport electricity to the national grid and with the support of the ADB, they would be upgraded to 220 kV.
Target production for power generation is dependent on upgradation of transmission lines
“We will achieve the target of power generation when the transmission lines are upgraded,” he added. Highlighting the social impact of the project, the GM Plants said the project involved 800 local people during its construction period and now due to the development of road infrastructure, transportation has become easy.
He said most of the local peoples’ livelihood depends upon fishing and due to easier access, they capture jellyfish, which fetches a good price in the local market at Karachi and earn handsomely. This project provides an alternative way of earning livelihood.
If the government had spent the money allocated to orange line on a project like this, the electricity shortfall would have been reduced significantly. But again, sharif sahab haven’t yet figured out a way to benefit from such projects . I guess we’ll have to wait for them to figure out how to do corruption in wind power. ?
height of ignorance from a typical youthia. know nothing about budgets infrastructure development and speak like an idiot
Lolz typical patwari answer. If you dont like something said against your party, call e’m youthias.
Budget infrastructure you ask me? Ask your patwari leaders! It took less than a seventh of the budget allocated to the lahore metro bus project for india to make their own space probe!
Height of biasism i’ll call it.
And dont say that the price is justified by the quality of the project as the quality of it is terrible! Just about 1 year has passed and already all their escalators have started giving up! The place already is starting to show huge signs of wear and tear.
And now they have made “orange line” another way for them to sell low quality material made by THEIR industries to THEMSELVES at a higher than market rate .
And dont dare give me the example of nandipur. Its as awful as heck.
And dont even think about bragging about the dams which will probably be delayed so that the government can promise to make them in their “next” tenure and say that it wasnt completed in the required time due to “delays”.
you get angry and that’s why people like you called youthias and i guess you know the hidden meaning.
whatever you said here is just the bullshit people heared from morethan 2 years. All lies and nothing. whatever you just said provide the details and facts. I can say alot of things without any proof but I can’t bark without knowing anything.
Provide any evidence of what you said, I wish any youthia can but how, there leader 62 year old youthia can’t provide any evidence, how can you?
I agree people can appreciate nothing
Lol evidence you ask?
I agree that i cant gove evidence for the nandipur claim, but for the metro, boy where do i get started?!
Just last month, went to lahore. Took metro, and from the start the experience was horrible!
First of all, the escalators were screeching like hell or not working at all! Next, there wasnt any space in the bus for the whole journey!(this can still be explained by the fact that its still kinda like a tourist attraction in lahore.)
Well atleast some good news for the people of rural sindh
If you can’t provide evidence then better keep your mouth shut.
You are angry on a fact the lot of people traveling on metro and you couldn’t find any seat.
People like you should travel on roof of buses
FYI AGP cleared nandipur but still anyone can approach to court if they have any evidence on corruption. May I remind you, Faisal Saleh Hayat of Q league approached court regarding corruption in rental power projects. Why don’t your leader do the same thing? Fake media propaganda won’t make him PM anyway
Lolz again the same patwari answers.
Also , im not a supporter of any political party here to be clear.
Sub k sub chor hein.
Doesn’t matter whether you are youthia or a bootlicker.
Ignorants like you can only lie.
I asked you to provide evidence of what you said.
Otherwise I see many dogs on streets barking all the time for nothing and you are perfect example of that.
700,000 – 1,200,000 guest birds arrive in Pakistan through this bird fly zone in winter season every year from Europe, Central Asian states and India. What will happen to these birds after installing the windmill ??