KARACHI: For the socioeconomic development of Pakistan there is no disagreement that we have to accept obvious challenges of encouraging sustainable development in the field of renewable energy inclusive of solar and wind energy projects.

This will create an impact of marching towards indigenous energy production, which is a ‘Charter of Energy’, said Ateeq ur Rehman, economic & financial analyst.

He said we are the highest tax paid energy consumers in the world. To overcome this problem we have to draw integrated mechanism for secure investors; they should feel comfortable for their investments and their returns are being safeguarded in the growth of a number of wind and energy projects.

He said the problem is that wind & solar projects are getting expensive due to rise in prices of the equipments, globally. International inflation has got its effect on such investments, too. Renewable energy is facing a big hit due to such international inflationary conditions, he said.

Project developers should not get discouraged; rather the government should design mechanism where tax holidays and other incentives are available to them and they are very well compensated, he said.

The objective is to get cheaper energy by renewable means like wind and solar, said Ateeq.

He added that there is a dire need of coordination among different departments of energy sector. The solution is transmission, dispatch and distribution sectors should coordinate with each other.

We have to solve our energy problems and reduce the cost/ tariff by professionally working for wind & solar energy, he suggested.

The companies working for wind and solar projects surely need encouragement by federal and provincial governments, which include cheaper land on wind and solar corridors, he concluded.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022