The delegation made commitment to generate at least 200 MW from a wind farm in next two years. They said that KOSPO was producing 9,238 MW of power in Korea with an investment of $ 5 billion. KOSPO is also producing electricity in UAE, Jordan and Bulgaria. In Korea, they are generating power from coal, LNG, oil and wind power.
The representative of Hyundai Corp also showed intention of his company to put up wind turbines plant in Pakistan to cater to the need of wind turbines in other wind energy projects. Hyundai is manufacturing wind turbine of 2 MW each.
Motiwala thanked the delegation and assured his full cooperation in identifying a suitable land in wind corridor for the wind farm project in accordance with the present elected government’s investment friendly policy.
It was agreed that Sindh Board of Investment will formulate a schedule for signing of memorandum of understanding for this project during the visit of Sindh Chief Minister to South Korea from May 17 to 28.
First wind farm to start producing power by year-end
Around 50 to 70 Megawatts of environmentally clean, wind energy will be added to the national grid by the end of the current year with the start of production from the Fauji Fertilizer Company Energy Limited’s (FFCEL) wind farm, currently under construction at Jhimpir.
Officials at the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) said that the first ever, wind power project of 49.5 MW at Jhimpir having crossed all major milestones was all set for formal ground breaking in May 2011 after its Financial Close, to be announced shortly.
They said work on the construction site was in full swing by the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractor and it was expected that the energy company would start electricity production from its wind farm by end-2011.
It is worth mentioning here that M/S FFC Energy, Limited, and the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) had already signed a power purchase agreement on April 5 of the current month while they entered into an Implementation Agreement earlier in February 2011.
AEDB officials maintained that several other wind projects were also in the pipeline and 2011 would see the financial close of another four to six projects in the wind sector alone.
“With this landmark project, Pakistan will join the ranks of nations utilizing wind energy for electricity generation on a commercial scale” Chief Executive Officer of the AEDB Arif Allaudin said, adding that it would be the fastest realisation of wind energy projects by any country in the world without the involvement of Government funding, subsidies or public projects.
Pakistan would hopefully become the first country, where the wind power projects are being initiated directly by the private sector without public money or public projects, he added.
The AEDB CEO further said that more than six EPC contractors were ready now to provide their services in Pakistan.
Similarly, the financing of projects had also become available with IFC, ADB, OPIC and other commercial banks and financing institutions ready to finance wind power projects, he maintained.
Replying to a query, Allaudin maintained that by the end of next year, some 300 to 350 MW of electricity produced through wind turbines would be added to the national grid and it would be a never-ending cycle of producing clean energy through alternative sources. He said that the AEDB had also given conditional extension to allotment of lands for construction of wind farms to six companies against bank guarantees of a quarter of a million dollars each till August 31.
“By August 31, if any one or all of these companies fail to sign an EPC contract for construction of wind farm, land allotted to them would be cancelled, bank guarantees could be cancelled and land would be allotted to some other serious investor” he informed.
At the same time, the AEDB has started identifying more areas in the wind corridor along the coastal areas of Sindh and wind-collection data instruments are being installed to ascertain if establishment of more wind farms were feasible in the area.
It would be worth the mention here that as per studies and surveys, the Gharoñ Ketibander Wind Corridor has a potential of producing 43,000 to 50,000 MW of wind energy.
