The Balochistan government has permitted the private sector to execute 27 renewable energy (RE) projects in the province. The permission has been granted by the Balochistan Power Development Board. The Balochistan Energy Company Limited would facilitate the private sector in launching the green energy projects, official documents said. “Balochistan’s RE potential (both solar and wind) can be exploited to provide electricity to small and medium-sized consumers, and to the remote areas that cannot be connected to the national grid immediately,” Hussain Lango, Director of Balochistan Energy Department, said. He said that the province was rich in RE resources, which must be explored for its sustainable development. “For remote areas and small power requirements, photovoltaic technology is particularly suitable. Balochistan is also the largest province by area, yet, there is low density of population.”He said a majority (77%) of its population was living in villages and rural areas, which have no easy approach to the roads and are separated by large distances.

“Several houses in villages have very low requirement of power, which varies between 50-100 watts.” Lango said laying power lines to supply power to small villages was economically not feasible, thus, there was a need to exploit the RE sources. “Use of RE can easily meet the requirements of such houses where electricity is mainly needed for lighting bulbs and running fans or for charging mobile phones,” said Lango. He said that Balochistan’s Nokundi region boasted an enormous wind potential with exceptional wind velocities throughout the year. “Chaghi and Panjgur districts have the potential to produce thousands of megawatts from wind and solar energy, but financial, administrative and political problems are hampering this potential from becoming a reality,” he noted. Lango maintained that there were various electricity problems faced by the people of Balochistan, such as low levels of access to electricity, high electricity costs and long hours of loadshedding.

“The most effective option to address these problems is to produce electricity from renewable sources close to where people need it.” There has not been much progress on electricity projects, particularly renewable energy, in the province, because of the fragile law and order situation, lack of policy preparation and policy planning at the provincial level and the absence of coordination between the provincial and federal authorities. “Now the provincial government is fully committed to promoting RE in the province,” Fayyaz Baloch, Director of the Energy Wing in the province’s Planning & Development Department, said. He said that special funds had been allocated for the promotion and development of this sector with the involvement of the private sector. He said that the future electricity requirements in the province would be met through the promotion of RE. Fayyaz Baloch pointed out many potential locations to harness both solar and wind energy. “The coastal belt in the south and the mountainous regions in the northwest of Balochistan offer extraordinary potential to harness wind energy,” he pointed out.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)