KARACHI, Oct 13: Country’s vast wind power potential will soon begin to be realised when the first wind-powered project begins to deliver electricity to about 6,900 homes in the Hyderabad Electricity Supply Company region later this month.

According to a press release, the Zorlu Wind Energy Farm in Jhimpir, in district Thatta, is in the final stages of completion. Five turbines are being installed each with a capacity to generate 1.2 MW.

The project will produce clean electricity to eliminate the production of approximately 10,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. In subsequent phases, the project will be expanded to a 50 MW wind farm.

The press release said that Nepra had awarded tariff of US cents 12.1057 per kWh, which is cheaper than the electricity generated from thermal sources.

“Commissioning of this first wind-powered electricity generation project would be a highly significant step towards achieving Pakistan ’s renewable goal. We are on our way to a future that can be transformed by the use of clean forms of energy,” Mr Arif Alauddin, chief executive of AEDB, told journalists during a media trip to the site. The AEDB facilitated the setting up of the farm by assisting the Zorlu Energy Electricity Generation Inc of Turkey in leasing the land from the Sindh government; development of feasibility study; tariff determination and acquisition of generation licence.