KARACHI: Facilitated by Nutshell conferences, K-Electric and NEPRA hosted a live webinar on Pakistan’s Energy Transition and the Road Ahead.
While stressing the need for Pakistan’s shift to a greener and clean energy future, the panelists covered opportunities in the renewable energy area with a focus on overcoming the challenges in regulatory and policy framework, financing, and technical fields.
Attendees included Chairman NEPRA, Tauseef H. Farooqi, CEO Alternate Energy Development Board Shah JahanMirza and State Bank of Pakistan’s Director for Infrastructure Housing & SME Finance Department DrMian Farooq Haq along with Member Finance WAPDA, NaveedAzfar. Chief Strategy Officer K-Electric, Naz Khan represented KE.
Chairman NEPRA, Tauseef H. Farooqi highlighted that for the renewable industry to innovate and thrive Pakistan needs a transition in its generation, transmission, distribution system. He also reassured the audiences that NEPRA has been constantly working to bring that very change and their “actions are louder than words”.
“As the regulator, NEPRA’s intent is to enhance the RE footprint, which currently accounts for only 3% of Pakistan’s overall generation capacity of over 35000 MW to 30% over the next ten years,” he mentioned.
Farooqi also shared that the current share of hydropower at 30% should be included in the renewable energy mix, which would enable Pakistan’s total progress in the renewable energy space to exceed 60% in the next ten years, adding that This should result in an environmentally friendly and affordable energy mix in the country.
In her opening remarks Naz Khan, KE’s Chief Strategy Officer, revealed that K-Electric has stepped into the renewable energy space with the launch of its first-ever subsidiary, “K-Solar”. She said that by launching K- Solar, the company has taken another step to a greener and more sustainable future for our future generations.
Naz Khan also shared that currently, renewables have around 250MW of share in KE’s total energy mix including almost 150MW from wind and 100MW from solar energy. She shared that additional projects are in the pipeline to increase the share of renewable to 350MW.
“With the guidelines and policies set by the Federal Government, KE is moving accordingly and looks forward to continuously increasing the share of renewables in its energy mix in the build-up to 2030”, she added. CEO KE, Moonis Abdullah Alvi also joined the conversation and announced a donation of Rs 5.0 million for NEPRA and Akhuwat Foundation’s ‘Power with Prosperity Revolving Microfinance Fund’.
Alvi said, “Through our contribution to this fund KE aims to reduce the energy poverty in the country. This is a humble contribution of KE to support NEPRA and Akhuwat to help Pakistan achieve the targets set in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 7) which will enable the inclusion of dispersed communities living off-grid in the electricity network”.
He also shared that K-Electric has been making greater efforts to increase its share of renewables in its energy mix and the launch of the K-Solar is one milestone in achieving KE’s mission of a green and sustainable future.
During the webinar Shah Jahan Mirza, CEO of Alternate Energy Development Board shared that allowing the purchase of power from solar and wind energy projects through competitive bidding remained one of the strong features of their new policy, adding that this had never been done in Pakistan before.
