With 330 days of sunlight, more than 300 kilometers of a strong wind corridor, flowing rivers and vast agricultural lands; Pakistan is an ideal country to generate power from solar, wind, biogas and hydel sources. These were the views of German officials and experts in green energy as they talked to the Pakistani delegation consisting of Independent Project Development Facility (IPDF) CEO Adil Anwar, National Forum President & Energy Update Managing Editor Naeem Qureshi, Renewble Energy Society (Research) Chairman Dr Allah Nawaz Qaiserani and Secretary General Iftekhar Qaiseranion, former MNA Ghulam Murtaza Satti, Khushnood Shaikh from APP news agency & Dr Farhan from Water and Power Ministry during a recent visit to Germany on the invitation of German Foreign Office.
Purpose of the visit:
The purpose of the invitation was to help the Pakistani delegation understand what Germany could do for Pakistan in the alternative energy sector and what future possibilities could exist for Pak-German cooperation in the said area. Divisional Head for Cultural and Media Relations with Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific and Latin America Caribbean at the German Foreign Office Micheal Siebert said that great potential existed for cooperation between the two countries to capitalise alternative energy and Pakistan could do more with German assistance and expertise. “We are working with our partners in Europe, China, Africa and we also wish to do this in Pakistan. We want to transfer technology regarding solar energy”, he added. He said that Germany will cut its carbon emissions by 80 to 95 per cent by 2050 and improve its energy efficiency by 2.1 per cent.
Ecology Institute:
In his presentation, Ecological Institute Berlin Director, Andreas Kraemer said that the Pakistani delegation was visiting Germany at a time when Germans have decided to get rid of nuclear power generation through a phased programme, following the disaster of Japanese nuclear plants in Fukushima. He dispelled the impression that nuclear energy is cheap and said the cost of maintenance of nuclear plants, disposal of waste and security issues multiply the cost to very high levels. Kraemer said that Germany was a net exporter to all its neighbouring countries after the alternative energy boom. He said Germany leads in wind energy power followed by Spain and Portugal. It was also on the top in solar cells and solar power capacity, a position now taken over by China.
He pointed out that private sector which owns independent power plants (IPPs), also runs the power grid and therefore there is a conflict of interest. He said cross party consensus has been achieved for phasing out nuclear power generation by 2020 and making Germany a green country by switching to solar, wind and biogas energy.
Enercon: power sources in Germany:
An energetic young head from the Berlin office of Enercon, Ms Ruth Brand-Schock, in her presentation said that the turnover of her company was 3.5 billion euros. Enercon, a top manufacturer of latest wind and solar plants in Germany, has 60.4 per cent market share in the country, followed by Vestas, Nordex and GE Energy and it is ranked 4th in the world with an 8.5 per cent global share. She said that her company was manufacturing large wind turbines with a capacity to produce 7 megawatts of electricity per hour. Giving details about the electrical mix in Germany, she said that power generation from nuclear technology was estimated at 23 per cent, followed by that of natural gas which is 13 percent, lignite’s share is 24 percent, that of hard coal is 18 per cent, renewable energy holds 16.1 per cent share and others add up to 6 per cent. Of the renewable energies, wind power has a share of
6.5 per cent, biomass 5.2 per cent, hydropower 3.3 per cent and solar 1.1 per cent.
She said the government has a plan to cut down nuclear power generation from 141 trillion watts to only 9 trillion watts in 2020. Ruth said that 370,000 people are working in the renewable energy industry in Germany and the number of jobs in the ministry of environment would go up to 500,000 in 2030.
German assistance for renewable energy:
During the visit of Economic Cooperation and Development Ministry of Federal Republic of Germany, it was revealed that German government has been providing sufficient funds for the development of renewable energy. Desk Officer for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development Torge Matthiesen said that Germany has contributed a total amount of 768 million euros to the energy sector in Pakistan.
He said that the total worth of finanlised programmes in the energy sector is about 527 million euros. Germany has provided over 200 million euros for the construction of various small and medium size hydel projects and installation and rehabilitation of transmission lines in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa during 2009-10. “We will provide another 48.5 million euros for the development of alternative energy and energy efficiency this year,” he added.
He said that out of this amount, about 100 million euros are for small and medium size hydel projects in KPK including Lavi, Trapphi, Basho, Harpo, Keyal Khawar while the rest is for laying transmission lines including those at Gakkhar and Gazi Roads.
Renac Renewable Academy:
Renac Renewable Academy AG Chief Executive Officer Berthold Breid said that his organisation, a private sector initiative, has so far transferred and installed solar roof technology to 22 countries under public private partnership. A faculty member of Renac, Frank Jackson said that a stable grid is needed for transmitting renewable energy. Talking of possibilities for Pakistan, he said that there is a lot of potential of small hydel power projects. This is cost effective as compared to other options of renewable energy. Similarly, bio-energy is another area which has a massive potential for a country like Pakistan. In some German regions, 60 per cent of the electricity comes from bio-gas.
The writer is Managing Editor, Energy Update & President of National Forum for Environment. He can be reached at energyupdate@gmail.com.