pakistan

Pakistan’s attempt to support manufacturing of solar and wind energy components through a five-year tax exemption is not enough and more incentives are needed to encourage such investments in the south Asian nation, according to the director of a local firm that is planning to set up its own domestic solar module assembly production facility.

Pakistan’s National Electric Power Authority (NEPRA) has received a tariff request from project developer Aasal Solar Power for a 49.5MW solar project at Luni, Kulachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).

Starting with a 250MW first phase factory by July next year, the director of Pakistan-based conglomerate ACT Group has said it should be able to sell PV modules to the customer's doorstep at equal to or cheaper than Chinese import prices.

The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), which represents more than 3,000 major industrial members in Pakistan, has called upon the government to focus more on renewable energy due to the benefits this would bring to the national economy.

EnerTech Quetta Solar (ETQSL), a unit of Kuwait government-owned company and renewables developer EnerTech, has applied for a generation licence for a 50MW solar PV project in the Balochistan Province of Pakistan, according to National Electric Power Authority (NEPRA).

The World Bank has committed funding to support 400MW of solar energy projects in the Sindh Province of Pakistan.

Pakistani financier JS Bank has partnered with local solar firm Nizam Energy on a PV module financing solution directed at small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The Government of Sindh Province in Pakistan has rejected submissions from all four bidders in its tender for 352 solar PV systems to electrify primary health facilities.

The Sindh government aims to hold auctions for 400MW of solar parks, install 15MW of rooftop solar on public buildings and reach 250,000 households with solar home systems, having released a new environmental framework.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a US$260 million loan to the Government of Pakistan to improve the country’s power transmission network and help offtake of power from new and renewable energy power projects.