Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) CEO Dr Rana Abdul Jabbar Khan says that solar energy can lower the price of electricity for consumers.
Solar power is the country’s new way to guarantee its energy security as well as to decrease the basket price of electricity for consumers, according to Dr Rana Abdul Jabbar Khan.
At the first virtual conference on Solarization of Pakistan, organized by Energy Update, Khan said the country should take the advantage of its presence in one of the world’s best solar zones. He added that due to a steep decline in solar electricity rates, solar energy had lately become the cheapest source of energy among the low-cost alternatives for generating electricity.
He declared that the AEDB would support full exploitation of solar power potential in Pakistan so that by 2030 the country could generate up to 30 percent of its electricity from clean sources of energy. And the AEDB had been conducting the country’s solar resource mapping with support of the World Bank (WB) and nine solar stations had been established in various areas.
Additionally, the board is taking required measures in order to introduce competitive bidding for the alternative energy projects in Pakistan.
On the occasion, PM Housing Task Force Chairman Zaigham Mahmood Rizvi emphasized the need for using high-quality equipment to generate solar electricity for long-term benefit.
He said solar equipment of superior quality could last up to four decades for maximum benefit of the energy system.
Rizvi also said quite soon export-oriented industries would have to install alternative energy plants since their products that were manufactured with the assistance of conventional sources of energy might not be accepted by the developed countries.
According to Sindh Solar Energy Project Director Mehfooz Qazi, the Sindh government had been working on projects to promote the use of solar energy. He hoped that the new Alternative Energy Policy would help implement the WB-assisted solar project in Sindh.