By Ayesha Saba ISLAMABAD, Mar 2 (INP-WealthPK): Exhaustion of natural resources and increased demand for energy have forced planners and policy-makers around the world to look for alternative sources of energy. The major sources of alternative energy available in abundance are wind, solar, biomass, hydropower and geothermal. Of these clean and green energy sources, wind is widely used for production of electricity in many countries such as Denmark, Spain, Germany, United States, China and India. [caption id="attachment_64337" align="aligncenter" width="696"] Wind Energy Potential[/caption] Pakistan is one such country that has been facing chronic electricity shortfalls for decades. The majority of its rural areas lack access to electricity and even the urban centers connected to the national grid are facing long-hour load shedding. Even massive consumption of indigenous and imported non-renewable resources now seems to be inadequate for meeting this developing country's energy requirements. However, these deficits in conventional resources can be compensated by harnessing the abundantly available renewable resources such as wind, solar and biomass energy. Among them, wind energy is the most attractive source. Assistant Director Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) Mohammad Yasin told INP-WealthPK, “Pakistan, which is situated in South Asia, is also paying high attention to environment-friendly distributed renewable energy (DRE) generation and its integration with the national grid. The Board has an upfront task to encourage local and foreign investment for DRE generation. Building of micro-hydro dams, solar and wind power plants in KP, Punjab, and Sindh provinces respectively is the result of this focus. At the moment, the total wind power capacity installed in Pakistan is 287MW, while 306MW wind power projects are in the development and planning phase. However, Pakistan has a wind power potential of around 174 GW.” “In order to harness the potential and encourage investment in wind power projects, the Government of Pakistan has offered various incentives, which include attractive tariff rates, availability of land at cheaper rates, wind risk, guaranteed power purchase, and zero rated import duties on equipment and exemption of income and sales tax. In 2020, the AEDB approved 11 wind projects collectively comprising more than 500MW. These projects are estimated to be operational in the forecast period, driving the wind market of Pakistan. The government aims to generate 6% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, excluding hydroelectricity. In the coming years, solar and wind will be the most important markets,” he further said. “The government has tasked the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) with ensuring generation of 6% of the total national power generation through the renewable energy technologies by the year 2030. The upcoming projects and visionary policies of the government are expected to drive Pakistan towards a global leader in wind energy.” “To boost the manufacture of wind and solar equipment in Pakistan, the government is also planning to propose a five-year tax exemption for the manufacturers. This will help increase renewable share significantly,” he told INP-WealthPK. Talking to INP-WealthPk, Socio-Economic Development Officer of CPEC Authority Muhammad Adnan Khan said, "Pakistan is beginning to reap the benefits of Chinese investment in renewable energy infrastructure. The major success of Pakistan’s growth in wind energy is in Jhimpir-Gharo Corridor. With majority of wind plant installations in this region along with the first wind plant, this region still holds a huge potential for growth of the wind energy market. Jhimpir-Gharo wind corridor in Sindh province, a 180km (110 mile) stretch of coastal land, has the potential to produce 11,000MW electricity through the wind power.” The market for wind energy in Pakistan is expected to grow at CAGR of more than 5% in the forecast period of 2020-2025. Factors such as supportive government policies and efforts to meet power demand using renewables to decrease dependency on fossils are expected to be significant contributors to the growth of the market. The declining costs of renewable technologies are becoming competitive with the fossil fuel sources, and additional subsidies on renewables are driving the renewable market further. On the other hand, because of the heavy dependency on the fossil fuel-based power generation, very less development in the renewable energy sector in Pakistan, and limited power capacity by variable renewable energy sources, there can be a negative impact on the growth of wind energy.