Govt’s solar projects initiative: KE shows interest in procurement of up to 500MW of power

ISLAMABAD: K-Electric (KE) has shown an interest in procurement of up to 500 MW from the government of Pakistan initiative meant to develop 10 GW of solar PV capacity in the country.

The power utility’s interest has been conveyed by Chief Executive Officer Syed Moonis Abdullah Alvi, in a letter to Minister for Power, Khurram Dastgir Khan.

The KE being the only private and vertically integrated electric utility in the country is responsible for managing the generation, transmission, and distribution within its territory. Accordingly, KE remains obligated for end-to-end planning of its value chain and performs the functions of planner and procurer for its service area.

Commenting on a recent announcement by the GOP and Power Division for the development of 10 GW utility-scale solar PV projects, KE argues that this positive measure will help replace the expensive power produced through fossil fuels, with the inexpensive and sustainable generation of solar. Additionally, it will also aid the country in conserving the precious foreign currency reserves, currently being utilized to import costly fossil fuels.

According to CEO KE, the development of renewable power generation projects is the cornerstone of power utility’s long-term generation planning strategy and KE has plans to induct over 1.2 GW of power generated through renewables ( solar and wind) over the next few years, and many of these projects are already under various stages of development. The KE’s own generation capacity expansion plan is intended to be fully in line with the GoP’s vision of utilizing indigenous and renewable resources for power generation.

Large-scale solar PV project to be launched soon

The CEO KE maintains that in order to meet the rising power need of Karachi and provide a cheaper alternatives to the citizens, the power utility has offered to become a partner of GoP and Power Division for their solar initiative.

“We submit our intent to offtake via direct EPA with KE, up to 500 MW from the solar penal projects to be developed in IPP mode, either to be procured through competitive bidding or view direct G2G negotiation,” the CEO KE said, adding that this would be in addition to the company’s own renewable development pipeline.

The power utility has further stated that with the induction of this affordable renewable electricity into KE’s generation mix, the burden of subsidies shouldered by GoP will also be reduced.

The CEO KE has sought time from Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan for a meeting to discuss and understand the possibility of moving forward.

Official sources told Business Recorder, many private companies from the Middle East, and countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Russia and China have shown keen interest in solar projects on G2G basis.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022