Ahmed Khan Malik

Sindh Renewable Energy Company (SERC) plans to establish more plants after contributing significantly in the renewable energy sector of the province. 

The company has already established a 100MW wind power plant at Jhimpir, Thatta district, and a 50MW solar power plant at Manjhand Renewable Energy Park in Jamshoro district. Among other renewable energy resources, wind and solar power are the most dominant choices for power generation as these resources are environmentally friendly, renewable and inexpensive.

Officials in Sindh Energy Department told WealthPK that the province is blessed with huge renewable energy resources, but this potential has not been realised so far.  Nadir Jokhio, Additional Director of Renewable Energy Cell, said that the province is blessed with a wind corridor, which is recognised as one of the strongest in the region with average wind speeds of 10 m/s, and is available for almost 12 months of the year.

“This corridor is 60km wide (Gharo-Keti Bandar) and more than 180km long (including Thatta, Badin, Jamshoro, Hyderabad and Tharparkar). The corridor has an exploitable potential of generating more than 60,000MW of electric power.” Jokhio said that the provincial government has invited private investors to install wind farms, and has provided them with suitable lands in the wind corridor under the Land Grant Policy.

Regarding solar energy, he noted that the province receives an average of about 19 mega joules per square meter of energy throughout the year, which is a high level of solar radiation. “Such a high potential of energy allows us to produce electricity for on-grid communities through mega level power generation plants using solar photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies, and to off-grid communities using standalone or community-based power generation facilities using solar photovoltaic technology,” he said. 

The additional director of Renewable Energy Cell said that Sindh planned to install concentrated solar thermal and solar photovoltaic-based power generation projects, electrify off-grid public sector education buildings using solar photovoltaic technology, install and electrify water drawing, desalination and distribution set-ups in rural Sindh where deepwater wells are the only drinking water source available for dwellers, and provide solar streetlights in off-grid remote villages.

“In the waste-to-energy area, agriculture and livestock sector of Sindh produces a copious amount of biomass in the form of crop residues and animal waste such as bagasse, rice husk and dung, much of which is currently collected and used outside commercial economy as unprocessed fuel for cooking and household heating. In addition, municipal solid waste produced by large urban population like Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, etc, is presently openly dumped, which could instead be utilised to produce methane gas and electricity,” Jokhio noted.

Credit: INP-WealthPk