LAHORE: Stakeholders involved in renewable energy-related businesses have welcomed concessions announced in the federal budget on the import and local manufacture of solar panels, urging the government to immediately issue details in this regard.

“Perhaps, the government has realised that renewable energy (solar, wind etc) is the only way to save the public from expensive energy sources like thermal and coal.

“It has also realised that since the solar energy industry is booming fast, it cannot stop the public from using this to rid themselves of expensive, traditional sources,” explained Mr Mustafa Amjad, Programme Director of the Renewable First — an energy think tank based in Islamabad.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Amjad praised the government for offering incentives to local manufacturers of solar panels. “Incentivising the manufacture of solar energy equipment by allowing the tax-free import of raw material is a great move. The decision will save foreign exchange and create hundreds of jobs,” he said.

According to him, the “massive tax relief” has not been restricted limited to raw material for solar panels but also for the manufacture of inverters, lithium batteries, solar cells and solar batteries.

Mustafa Amjad said although hydropower is a cheap energy source, it demands huge sums of money and takes 10 to 20 years to complete such projects. “Solar power is cheaper than all other sources of energy.”

He said the prices of batteries would come down soon, making the installation of solar panels affordable for most people. “Chinese companies are trying to make cheap batteries and exporting to Pakistan. In this way the local battery prices will also be reduced considerably,” he added.

Talking to Dawn, Syed Muhammad Talha Akmal, an executive at a Chinese company, said although the government has announced concessions, “we have to wait and see whether the people engaged in the business pass on the benefit to the consumer or not”.

“At present panels being imported from China are much cheaper than the locally manufactured ones. It is necessary to issue SROs that will help us to know the extent of tax concessions given by the government on the import and local manufacture of solar panels,” he explained.

Mr Akmal said the concessions would enable the common man to install off-grid solar power system (excluding batteries for storage) and use cheaper energy. “If an individual installs a fully fledged off-grid system (with batteries), they can completely get rid of expensive power from Discos.”

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2024