Cheap electricity Ahmed Mukhtar approves Draft National Policy

In order to generate cheaper electricity from alternate resources, Federal Minister for Water and Power Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has approved the Draft National Policy for co-generation by utilising bagasse and biomass.
Presiding over a meeting on fast track development of bagasse-based power generation projects that was held on Thursday, the minister asked the ministry to submit the draft to the relevant forum for formal approval.
During the meeting it was recommended that upfront tariff will be given for fast track power generation projects and power producers shall have the option to offer energy to the respective DISCOs or to the CPPA.
The meeting also proposed simplified procedure and reduction in the time line of production. It shall be mandatory for the power purchaser to buy all the energy offered by the power producer. All general, financial and fiscal incentives available to renewable energy projects of RE policy 2006 will be applicable to the bagasse-based projects.
The minister said the government is utilising all resources to end the energy crisis and power generation from bagasse would be another step to produce electricity from indigenous resources. He appreciated the PSMA for taking interest in bagasse based power projects and assured to provide full cooperation. “It is also the desire of the President of Pakistan Asif Zardari that sugarcane bagasse be utilised for cheaper power generation,” he said. Initially 1,000 MW would be completed on fast track basis, he added.
Earlier, the meeting was briefed by AEDB and PSMA that Pakistan is the 5th largest producer of sugarcane, produces 50 million tonnes of sugarcane annually, yielding over 10 million tons of bagasse. Power generation from bagasse would not only reduce the furnace oil import but also save Rs 33 billion worth foreign exchange per annum. The country has 87 sugar mills with a capacity to generate around 3,000 MW of electricity from bagasse in winters.