Tapping alternative energy sources

The Sindh Coastal Development Authority (SCDA) has started studying ways to harness alternative sources of energy such as solar power, windmills, waterfalls, etc that can be tapped to offset the spiralling power deficit in the province, particularly in its coastal areas such as Badin, Thatta and Karachi.
Sources have informed Business Recorder that coastal and mountainous regions of the province have a climate that is ideal for generating solar and wind energy. For instance, these areas have plenty of sunshine the whole year, and the only thing needed is investment for purchasing the costly equipment used for this purpose. SCDA is therefore planning to install windmills and solar energy generation units as a part of its wider alternative energy programme.
Windmills are installed at places where there is a steady wind blowing at least at a speed of 20 to 25 kilometres per hour. That is why hilltops and coastal areas are ideal for this purpose. Similarly, solar parks can be established in hot climate zones. Such parks can be quite successful in Balochistan.
Establishment of solar parks and windmills offers a viable option for tapping the country's renewable sources of energy. There are said to be plans to install 100 wind power turbines in remote coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan. These units can help narrow the gap between the quantum of energy production and its mounting shortage.
The Alternative Energy Development Board plans to generate 700 megawatts of electricity by the year 2010 as a part of the government's broader strategy to meet at least 5 percent of the country's total energy requirements through alternative sources. The discovery of a wide wind corridor at Gharo-Keti Bandar in Sindh a couple of years ago had apparently prompted the authorities to focus on wind energy as well.
However, the amount of initial investment required to start a wind energy project is rather prohibitive, for a local investor at least. According to one estimate, an amount of $80 million is needed to install a single wind power plant of 50 megawatts. Further, it is said that 1,000 to 1,200 acres of land are also needed for a project of this capacity. Solar energy is probably the most abundantly available renewable source in Pakistan as there is a lot of sunshine throughout the year.
In Balochistan, for instance, the average daily sunshine duration is about eight hours, which can be utilized for tapping this practically inexhaustible source of energy. Experts maintain that if solar energy parks are established in the coastal regions of Sindh and a centralized solar grid system is also established, it will considerably relieve pressure on the conventional energy system. Windmills and solar parks are therefore practicable options that should be seriously explored and tapped.
Similarly, the harnessing of waterfalls is another useful option, though considerable investment will have to be made to set up transmission infrastructure to ensure supply of this relatively cheaper electricity to urban centres of power consumption. However, once the transmission infrastructure is in place it will make availability of power at affordable rates to the consumers possible, though on a smaller scale.
At least such projects can easily meet the local needs of coastal communities. A beneficial quality of solar energy is that sunshine can easily be converted into electric energy through use of photovoltaic cells. Making use of such innovative technologies and techniques has become all the more important because of the country's rapidly growing energy deficit.
Although the amount of energy produced from these renewable sources will be insufficient to make much of an impact on the national scale, it will be enough to meet the small-scale needs of the local communities. This can also help spur economic activities at the local level, thereby relieving pressure, to an extent, on employment in big cities.
Secondly, inhabitants of the coastal regions will be spared the stresses and strains of migration, resulting in split families. Therefore, the socioeconomic benefits of such projects need also to be kept in view. Sindh Coastal Development Authority (SCDA) should therefore pursue the project with determination.