Pakistan should be producing 500 megawatts of wind power by the end of 2012, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday. For this purpose, he has called for periodic reports to be submitted to the Presidency indicating the progress made and bottlenecks encountered.
During a briefing by Alternate Energy Development Board, Board of Revenue Sindh and Sindh Investment Board on wind power projects at Bilawal House Karachi, Zardari was informed that three wind power projects of 50MW each would start producing power within a year while the work on another 10 projects of 50MW each would start early next year. The president was informed that another five projects were in the initial stage of financial close in 2012.
He directed the authorities to expedite land allocation process for 18 other wind power projects.
President’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the president was informed that all projects companies involved with wind power projects suggested announcement of upfront tariff to save at least six months project time which was spent in tariff determination by the concerned authority.
The president asked NEPRA to examine the suggestion and expressed hope that NEPRA would soon arrive at a consensus upfront tariff regime for all the projects until the capacity to produce 2000MW was achieved. However, the option of normal tariff determination system would remain open for the companies opting not to go for the upfront tariff, he said.
Zardari said incentives would be given to companies to enable them to start their power productions within a year. He also directed for finalisation of schemes for construction of road networks in the areas of the power projects.