Zardari calls for use of wind energy

The president said that all new street lights should be solar/LED based and billboards and electronic power based neon signs should be converted to solar at the earliest and special industrial hubs be set up in the coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan based on the captive wind energy that is harnessed in these areas.

Zardari, who presided over a number of meetings and briefings on ‘Alternative Energy Options’ available to energy starved Pakistan, ‘Implementation of Flood Rehabilitation Plan’, the proposed ‘Pakistan-Turkey Cargo Train Service’ and the progress made on giving mobile telephones to all beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Programme and advised the government to step up the projects and tailor them to maximum advantage of maximum people.

Spokesperson to the president while briefing the newsmen said the meeting on wind energy was informed that the USAid had agreed to build a 150-MW wind farm plant in the coastal areas of Sindh to augment power generation.

Taking note of the reports that despite land allocation some private entrepreneurs had not yet obtained letters of support (LoS), the president directed that they should be given time till the end of this year after which their right to allocated wind corridor be forfeited.

The meeting was informed that in Gharo, Bandar and Jhimpir corridor where the wind speed was over 7 metres per second at 60-metre height, which could generate as much as 50,000 MW of wind power. The General Electric Company of the US has already expressed interest in setting up wind turbines projects.

The meeting on the proposed Turkey-Pakistan fast track cargo train, which was also attended by the federal railways minister, was informed that the technical feasibility of the project had been established and now efforts were afoot to involve the private sector in financing the project.

Project Steering committee meeting to review UNDP/GEF Wind Energy Project (WED) was held in Ministry of Environment under the Chairmanship of Federal Secretary Environment Muhammad Javed Malik. The meeting was attended by Addl. Secretary Environment Kamran Ali Qureshi, Chief Executive Officer Alternative Energy Development Board, Managing Director National Energy Conservation Center (ENERCON) and other stake holders.

It was informed in the meeting that to avoid CO2 emissions and promotion of wind energy project, various studies were conduct in different areas of Pakistan to analyze support growth sustainable for wind energy.

It was further informed that under the programme 5 wind turbines installed at Deh Baber Bund, Keti Bunder, Hawks (KPT), Jhirak and Sajawal areas.

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