RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) on Sunday stressed the government to focus on renewable energy as the country has tremendous potential to generate wind, hydro and solar power.
RCCI Acting president Osman Ashraf in a statement said that green energy sources like wind and solar were getting key focus on the global level as they were viable sources of energy at affordable cost.
According to the World Bank, he said, Pakistan was utilizing just 0.071 per cent of the country’s area for solar photovoltaic (solar PV) power generation while the country has several well-known wind corridors and average wind speeds of 7.87 m/s in 10 per cent of its windiest areas.
The President emphasized that despite many successful projects, the installed capacity of solar and wind energy in Pakistan, at just over 1,500 Megawatts, is just 4 per cent of total capacity, equal to around 2 per cent of total generation.
“Renewable energy can bring manifold benefits to the national economy for reducing the cost of doing business, promoting industrialization, encouraging investment, creating plenty of new jobs and enhancing exports,” he added.
Osman said that the government could reduce its reliance on expensive power plants and fossil fuel imports in favour of cleaner, more accessible electricity for people and businesses, he suggested.
He demanded to the government for reducing taxes and duties on the import of Solar Panel and added that new conditions for the import of solar panels which include PSQCA certificate, PSI certificate, certificate of conformance from exporting country, test report and accreditation certificate will increase the cost of doing business.
Ashraf urged the government to adopt IEEFA’s proposed energy model to 2030, aimed at providing a cheaper, more diversified electricity generation system for Pakistan and therefore greater energy security, is roughly split in a ratio of 30:30:30:10 between 30pc renewable, 30pc thermal, 30pc hydro, and 10pc nuclear power.
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