50MW wind energy farm project near Gharo okayed

[LahoreEstate]

KARACHI: The federal government approved the establishment of a 50MW wind energy farm near Gharo in Sindh, after evaluating a feasibility report prepared by the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB).
The approval for the project was given in an AEDB meeting held under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf on Thursday, official sources in the Sindh government told Daily Times.
“The minister gave the approval to allocate land for the project in Gharo,” they revealed and hoped that after his approval, the pace of the work on the wind energy project will pick up speed.
The project aims at providing power to Karachi and Hyderabad; the two cities that are currently facing a power crisis. The participants of the meeting also discussed the reasons for the failure of initiating wind-based power projects in Sindh in the past. “After listening to the reasons, the federal minister instructed the officials concerned to make sure that this time the setting up of the wind farm does not fall victim to any sort of problem,” the sources added. They revealed that it was also disclosed in the meeting that AEDB was planning to set up 50MW solar energy plant in Gharo, near the wind farm project. “AEDB officials have been asked by Ashraf to outline a mid-term plan for the development of unexploited renewable energy resources of the country.” The sources further revealed that the approval of the land was given after consulting the Sindh government.
In this regard, a meeting was also held between the Sindh Environment and Alternative Energy Department officials and Pakistan Council of Renewal Energy Technologies Director General Dr Pervaiz Ahmed a couple of days ago. “Dr Pervaiz gave a detailed presentation to the provincial officials in which he described various aspects of the wind farm project and other alternative energy resources,” they mentioned.
It may be pointed out here that the coastal belt of Pakistan has a natural wind corridor that is 60 km wide from Gharo to Keti Bandar and 180 km long up to Hyderabad. This corridor has the exploitable potential of generating 50,000MW of electricity through wind energy. However, no major development has so far been made to exploit this energy potential in the province.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...09_pg12_12