'Green energy' - II

Fauji Fertiliser Company Energy Limited (FFCEL) is developing Pakistan's first 50-Megawatt wind energy project at Jhampir, District Thatta, Sindh. In the past couple of years Pakistan has emerged as a significant green energy player especially in the wind power market. FFCEL has played a pioneering and leading role in developing Pakistan's growing wind power sector.
In June 2011, FFCEL took the initiative and became Pakistan's first green energy wind power electricity generation company to achieve Financial Close. The company has set new standards and benchmarks in establishing Pakistan's growing wind power sector.
The FFCEL Wind Power Project will become Pakistan's first grid connected wind power project. This Fast Track Project, once operational, shall provide clean sustainable energy and help address the electricity shortage in the country. Construction work at the site commenced from July, 2011 and the project has achieved 99% completion target to date. All the wind turbines (33 Nos.) and electrical equipment required to set up the wind farm have already arrived at the site and have been successfully installed and commissioned. Major civil works comprising turbine foundations, substation, workshop, dormitory and roads have also been completed.
Commissioning of the whole facility is scheduled to commence in coming weeks. It is expected that the company will achieve Commercial Operation Date by end of December, 2012. Market forces are helping to drive the growth of renewable green energy world-wide and in Pakistan.
Recently the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) and Foundation Wind Energy have recently entered into implementation agreements for the establishment of two wind power projects having 50MW capacity each in Gharo. Both the projects are being installed with a cumulative of forty Nordex Wind Turbines each having a capacity of 2.5 MW. The combined total energy output of both the projects is approximately 288 GwH per annum.
The financing agreement was signed in May, 2012. The completion period of each project is 15 months from financial close, and both the projects are being targeted for commercial operation during second quarter of 2014. However, pre-financial close onsite construction works are already in progress. Although Pakistan has made significant progress in renewable energy, and wind power in particular, it still has a long way to go. The two projects are being financed by the Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and a syndicate of local banks led by the National Bank of Pakistan. Due to favourable conditions in terms of potential, technical, support facilities, favourable policy and regulatory environment, and investor's confidence are available for an accelerated growth of the green energy wind sector.
Pakistan's installed wind power capacity is expected to reach 288 GwH per annum by 2014. This expansion in wind power is expected to attract millions of dollars in annual investments, create thousands of jobs and abate tones of CO2 annually. By harnessing the power of green energy in Pakistan and by participating in a green energy program Pakistani consumers in the near future may be able to affect the type of energy sources used and ultimately might promote and expand the use of green energy. By doing this the consumers will also be making a statement to policy makers that they are willing to pay a price premium to support renewable green energy. Green energy consumers either will be able to obligate the utility companies to increase the amount of green energy that they purchase from the pool (so decreasing the amount of non-green energy they purchase), or directly fund the green energy through a green power provider. If insufficient green energy sources are available, the utility must develop new ones or contract with a third party energy supplier to provide green energy, causing more projects to be built to satisfy the growing demands of the population.
The country faces challenges in meeting its energy needs and providing adequate and affordable energy to all sections of society. There is an energy demand supply gap, peak shortages and grid access is not available to a massive percentage of the rural population, maximising the utilisation of renewable green energy sources for providing green energy access is imperative for the future.