The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Wednesday welcomed the commissioning of the first-ever 100-megawatt solar power plant that will help save a huge foreign exchange being used to import oil. Vice President and Regional Chairman Khawaja Zarar Kaleem said the initiative of using the indigenous resources like sun and wind should continue to overcome the current energy crisis and reduce dependence on imported fuel and appealed to consumers to use solar means of power generation at their homes to reduce load on national grid and ensure availability of electricity for trade and industry.
The installation was completed in three months and is made up of the PV area and a 100-megawatt substation. The electrical output has been connected to a 132-kilovolt transmission line running through the Solar Park. The transmission line has currently a capacity of up to 400 megawatts and the utility company is in the process of upgrading its capacity to 1,000 megawatts. He said the project is likely to start generating 1,000 megawatts by the end of 2016.