KARACHI, Jan 18: The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) is holding the first public hearing on Jan 20 at Jhimpir, in the east of Karachi, on possible adverse environmental impacts of wind turbines planned to be set up in the province in phases.

The public hearing is part of the legal process required for the grant of environmental clearances sought by five companies which want to develop a farm each comprising 34 windmills generating 1.2 to 1.5 megawatts (MW) of electricity each, in the Gharo-Keti Bandar-Hyderabad wind corridor, said a Sepa press release on Saturday.

Under the provisions of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (Pepa) 1997, the views and comments of stakeholders, who have already been invited for the purpose by Sepa or informed through advertisements in newspapers, on environmental impacts of the proposed project would be recorded during the public hearing, which will be presided over by the Sindh environment and alternate energy minister, Askari Taqvi.

The proposed mills would be connected to the national grid system through the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company or the National Transmission and Dispatch Company. The government of Sindh has provided land for facilitating the endeavour, the release added.

It has been learnt that the sites for about 22 windmill projects with an initial generation capacity of 50MW each had been marked on the wind corridor under an agreement about two years back, while the companies submitted the initial environment examination or environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports to Sepa for the issuance of a no-objection certificate about a year back.

However, till recently Sepa officials did not know about the exact parameters for assessing the wind turbine projects, as the concept of such mills is still new to many stakeholders, although it was initiated in the country about six years ago by the Pakistan Alternative Energy Development Board.

While Sepa was in the process of acquiring guidelines from Pepa on the issue of clearance and certification of windmill projects, a few companies started work on the ground and now a couple of towering wind turbines may be seen in the proposed air corridor. “One of the firms plans to make a set of turbines operational shortly,” a source said.

‘Sepa not to blame’

Talking to Dawn, Askari Taqvi said Sepa, which was short of expertise to handle such a new kind of project, alone could not be blamed for the delay in the commencement of the project.

He said the federal government had now extended the required guidelines to Sepa and a combined public hearing for various farms planned by five countries was being held at the project site. If erected and operated as per the initial plan, the windmills would be the first of their kind in the country, he added.

He said that with the background of the global energy crisis and environmental degradation caused by conventional power houses, countries had now started opting for windmills, which were considered less harmful, and that was why the countries producing wind power plants were finding it hard to meet the demand for such turbines.

He said he had been told that in view of the growing inflation and import costs at least two of the proponents had returned the land to the Sindh government given to them for installing windmills. The grant of officially approved power tariff to the proponents has also been a reason behind the delay in the realisation of the mills in the province, Mr Taqvi said.

If one of the proponents – a Turkish firm – which has almost finalised a couple of mills, starts power generation first, it would become a trend-setter in the power sector of the country, he said, adding that other investors and interested parties could also learn from their experience.

According to experts, generally there are objections to windmills for their adverse aesthetic impact on the visual landscape, noise from the spinning rotors and their potential to harm birds.

Reports prepared by a couple of project proponents and received at Sepa say that environmental impacts of windmills – the issues of loss of habitat and resettlement, harm to vegetation, bird protection, threat to marine life and water reservoirs, agricultural productivity, waste generated by plants or relevant staff, air pollution during the construction of the plants, impact on the telecommunications sector, noise sensitivity in the areas, shadow of the wind turbines and visual impacts – needed to be assessed.Most of the windmills or turbines planned to be commissioned in Sindh are being acquired from Spain, Germany and China. In addition to a few sites along the coastal areas of Balochistan, the Gharo-Keti Bandar-Hyderabad Wind Corridor of Sindh, having a potential of generating capacity of 40,000MW of electricity, has been identified by the PAEDB as a potential resource of significant generation of power.

Experts estimate that the existing power deficit in the country is around 3,000MW, which is likely to reach 5,500MW by 2010.