KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, presiding over a meeting, has decided to implement the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s programme to provide free-of-cost electricity to consumers living off-grid and to those using 50 to 100MW electricity by implementing the solar energy solution.

This decision was taken in a meeting held at the CM House in which different proposals were discussed. Minister P&D and Energy Nasir Shah, CM Advisor for Cooperative Societies Ahsan Mazari, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, PSCM Agha Wasif, Secretary Energy Musadiq Khan, and others attended the meeting.

On-Grid: Minister Energy Nasir Shah, briefing the CM, said that on his directives, his department has worked out that around 80,000 households were using 50 MW of electricity per month. They include 441,483 in KE jurisdiction, 229,338 in HESCO, and 125,500 in SEPCO.

Similarly, the number of households using 100MW per month comes to 1.9 million, with 1,054,000 in Karachi (KE), 566,427 in the Hyderabad region (HESCO), and 356,073 in the Sukkur region (SEPCO).

Off-Grid: The CM was told that there were 2.6 million off-grid households of them 500,000 may be provided Solar Home Systems (SHS) in the first phase. The CM said that a 100-watt SHC was enough for 3 LED bulbs, a 35W DC fan and a 6-hour battery backup with Mobile charging ports. Nasir Shah told the CM that the cost of an SHS comes to around Rs50,000 each and the total cost for 2.6 million SHS would be around 25 billion.

Micro-grids: The CM said that six micro-grids, each one of 75kW, could be established in all six divisions as a pilot project to cover a 100-household cluster. These grids could provide electricity to households consuming 100kWh. Minister Energy said that its feasibility could be prepared if the proposal is approved.

Three Solar Parks: The CM proposed that three Solar Parks, each one of 305MW may be established to provide electricity to KE, HESCO and SEPCO to provide onward to the on and off-grid household.

The CM directed Minister Energy to prepare proposals for Solar Parks and Solar Home Systems so that one of both proposals could be discussed and approved. Meanwhile, the CM directed the Chief Secretary to collect data for SHS consumers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024