KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that “sustainable energy for all is our mission and we want every single home equipped with affordable electricity in the province.” Adding, he said: “Though ambitious, this is going to be a bold initiative”.

The chief minister, who was delivering his inaugural speech at a workshop on ‘Sindh solar energy programme — deployment of solar home systems in the rural grid areas of the province’, said on Wednesday that the aim of his government was to make affordable electricity accessible to all. Sindh has sufficient solar and wind power potential; as such the proposed project was the first step towards achieving this objective, he added.

“This is also an opportunity for Sindh to enhance economic development through the use of domestic renewable resources, and gain familiarity with solar technology and its operation,” he said, adding that with its abundant wind source, Sindh could play a leadership role in demonstrating conjunctive use of solar and wind power in a manner that optimised the use of evacuation infrastructure.

The workshop, held in a hotel here, was attended by energy experts and investors as well as by senior World Bank officials and Sindh government functionaries.

‘Development of wind corridors at Jhimpir and Gharo is in full swing’

Pointing out that the project of developing solar home system also covered areas where though electricity network was available, outages were extended up to 12 hours a day, the chief minister said: “Although energy is a basic need for socio-economic development in this modern era, a sizeable population still does not have access to electricity. It is the aim of our government to make affordable electricity accessible to all,” he said and added that the proposed project was the first step towards achieving this objective.

“Sindh is suitably placed to access and utilise donor financing options to scale up solar energy thus by mitigating the energy shortage being faced by the province,” he said. “Sindh has sufficient solar and wind power potential.” Recalling that Sindh had a relatively low level of electrification, especially in its remote areas, the chief minister said those localities would have electricity access by using photovoltaic (PV) cells under this programme.

“This is also an opportunity for Sindh to enhance economic development through the use of domestic renewable resources, and gain familiarity with solar technology and its operation,” he said.

He said the solar home system project would serve a dual purpose of mitigating the energy crisis and addressing the global concerns of environmental degradation due to use of fossil fuels.

He said that this pragmatic approach would look into the viability of solar power at different scales — rural off-grid, urban rooftop and utility scale solar. “It is now a proven fact that solar energy is not only technically feasible, but is cost-effective too,” he said and added that he hoped the recommendations of this consultative workshop for a new solar strategy would move the nation towards greater energy access and energy security.

Provincial Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh said ‘Sustainable energy for all’ was at the top of the UN’s global agenda to combat poverty, terrorism and other social evils in society.

He said the development of wind corridors at Jhimpir and Gharo was in full swing. “Some 20 projects are producing above 1GW electricity from wind and many more projects are at various development stages,” he said and added that the province took the lead in establishing its own power transmission and dispatch company which was successfully managing the transmission line from Nooriabad to Karachi.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2018