Amir Khan

Around 51 renewable energy (RE) power projects with capacity totalling 2,634MW have been completed so far and are supplying electricity to the national grid to meet growing power needs, according to a document available with WealthPK. The Pakistan government is promoting and facilitating development and deployment of renewable energy projects across the country as the RE-based power generation projects are being pursued in the IPP (independent power producers) mode through private sector investors.

In a written reply during question hour session of National Assembly, Minister for Energy (Power Division) Khurram Dastagir Khan informed that utilisation of solar energy technology at the consumer end across domestic, commercial, industrial sectors is also being encouraged. He said several other initiatives are also being taken for fast-track development of the RE projects.

The Lower House of the Parliament was informed that net-metering based installations are being carried out under the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Alternative and Renewable Energy) Distributed Generation and Net Metering Regulations, 2015 announced on September 1, 2015. These regulations provided the framework for implementing net-metering installations using solar and wind generation of up to 1MW capacity.

“Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) has also been carrying out certification of service providers/installers of solar systems under AEDB (Certification) Regulations for safe, secure and quality-assured supply of solar and wind energy generation projects, products and systems and installation and servicing thereof for small-scale industrial, agricultural, commercial and residential installations,” said the minister.

The Parliament was told that the number of AEDB-certified installers has reached up to 231, while the number of net-metering based solar installations has reached up to 35,029 with a cumulative capacity of 591.65MW. It was further informed that in order to help domestic consumers with installation of solar systems, the government has already set in place a financing scheme for renewable energy through the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which was launched in June 2016.

Under this financing scheme, concessional loans at the rate of 6% interest are provided by commercial banks under different categories. Moreover, the AEDB has been actively assisting public and private sector stakeholders in addressing difficulties faced by consumers with regards to solar installations. Investors currently face impediments to the import of solar equipment including solar PV panels as banks are not able to open letters of credit (LCs) for import transactions due to a shortage of foreign exchange.

This resulted in shortage of solar equipment in the market compared to a huge demand of consumers. The consumers also faced with delays at times from DISCOs in approval and connectivity of net-metering based systems.NEPRA has recently sought to amend its Net-Metering Regulations 2015 through which the price payable by a power distribution company (DISCO) for net kWh shall be the national average energy purchase price of DISCO instead of national average power purchase price.

NEPRA also held a public hearing on September 27, 2022 to obtain feedback/comments on the proposed amendment. The decision on the proposed amendment by NEPRA is yet to be made. The Parliament was further informed that DISCOs have been directed by the Power Division to ensure timely approval and inter-connection of net-metering based solar installations and timely availability of meters for the same.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk