10 MW from 1st wind energy project before Eid

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Irfan Aligi
KARACHI: Before Eid, almost 10MW will be added to the energy pool of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) from a 50MW wind energy project that will be entirely completed in three years, said Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) Pakistan Chief Executive Officer Arif Alauddin while talking to Daily Times on the sidelines of a workshop on carbon credits Friday.

The new 50MW wind energy plant installed at Jhampeer would be ready in a year. Then at least six more plants are in the offing as orders would have been made and 300MW would be available by 2010, said Alauddin. He was one of the speakers at the two-day workshop and training programme on ‘Carbon Credits Potential in the Wind Sector in Pakistan’ held at a local hotel.

As far as the ongoing power outage is concerned, 1,000MWs could be readily saved if 600,000 tube wells were switched to solar energy, he said. If this were undertaken on a fast track it would take a year and a half. “The AEDB has set a target for at least 10,000 MW for the next ten years,” he vowed.

Sindh Minister for Environment and Alternate Energy Askari Taqvi pressed for the acquisition of carbon credit control which investors had to learn about. He was disappointed to see that few people had turned up for the workshop.

“Investors do not take carbon credit potential into account and thus lose out on revenue,” echoed Sindh Secretary for Energy Mir Hussein Ali while speaking to Daily Times. The government puts it down to a lack of know-how. “But in future, it would be ensured that not a single project should miss out on the benefits.”

The secretary said that the government was less interested in forcing investors into including carbon credits by law and believed that with the proper awareness they would be automatically attracted to them.

AEDB CEO Arif Alauddin explained that for example, one carbon credit is worth about 21 Euros in the international market. Saving 1 ton of Methane would earn 21 credits and saving nitric oxide 2,000 credits. Saving FF6 (transformer Gas) gives 20,000 credits.

Talking to Daily Times, Core CarbonX Solutions, India Director Niroj Kumar Mohanty said that Pakistan has vast potential for alternate energy but there is a lack of investment and above all alternate energy consultants are not available. “It is an interesting thing that only the World Bank or Asian Development Bank are ready to allocate funds for power projects, especially alternate energy projects,” he commented, “but it is a misery that local banks do not come forward in this huge sector”.

World Bank Senior Infrastructure Specialist Mihaly Kopanyi told Daily Times that the WB was ready to invest in every reasonable project irrespective of the extent of fund allocation. Answering a question, Kopanyi said that the WB mainly focuses on the establishment of projects while the transfer of technology is not a specific objective.

He felt that the ongoing power crisis is worsened by flaws in the distribution and transmission system, which should be rectified immediately to save time, money and power.

UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) National Expert (CDM) Muhammad Matloob Khan said that China and India were taking the lead in carbon credit potential. Presently, China has 245 projects with 113,346,790 CERs/Reductions while India has 355 projects with 31,068,449 CERs/Reductions.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...08_pg12_12