China invests $ 115m to develop wind energy in Pakistan

China is helping Pakistan build a wind power plant near its southern port city of Karachi with a total investment of $115 million, according to HydroChina Investment Corporation which invested in the plant.

The Dawood wind power plant, located some 60 kilometers east of Karachi, is expected to generate 130 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, meeting the need of about 100,000 families in the local area.

Jiang Li, secretary of the corporation, told People’s Daily that the plant’s capacity is 49.5 MW. Its construction started in April of this year and is expected to be completed in June 2016 and start to generate power three months later.

According to Yang Zhiyao, Manager of the Dawood Power Plant Project, the plant could be operated for 20 years after its completion. He said all the investment would be recouped after eight years of operation.

Yang added that wind power plants usually could be built very fast and thus they were very effective in relieving the shortage of power in local areas. A Pakistan wind farm built and funded by the China Three Gorges Corporation is generating more than one-million kilowatt-hours of electricity everyday.

The project is operating for more than 20 hours a day, a spokesperson for the Chinese state-owned renewable energy giant said. Since it went into operation in November, the facility has generated around 93-million kilowatt-hours, he added.

With an installed capacity of 49.5 megawatts, this is the first China-backed wind farm in Pakistan. It is an example of the work the two countries are doing to build the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, part of the broader belt and road regional trade and infrastructure network.

According to another Chinese media report, Pakistan and China have signed many deals to help lift Pakistan out of its economic slumber and boost growth for the Chinese economy.

China and Pakistan have signed many deals to lift Pakistan out of its economic slumber and boost growth for the Chinese economy. Besides funding dams to increase hydro power generation, it has already committed to build two 1100 mw nuclear power reactors in Karachi with USD 6.5 billion assistance.

China earlier assisted Pakistan in building four nuclear power plants, two with 300 MW capacity and two others of 320 MW capacity. China is also building 900 MW solar power project in Bahawalpur in Punjab on a 500 acre land. The projects were all stated to be part of USD 46 billion China-Pak corridor finalised during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan in April this year.