Pitiful case for renewable

There is a latent resistance to the promotion of renewables in Pakistan. This has been reconfirmed by the latest State of Industry FY17 report by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra).

Over the years this newspaper has pointed out the false myths regarding renewables unable to become base-load. The grid has been made out to be the main culprit but the grid constraints are not such that they cannot be overcome.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) solar PV project costs represent 8 percent of the total energy investment incurred globally last year. Interestingly these costs have come down by almost 15 percent due to lower module prices and a shift in deployment to lower cost regions.

The report also highlights that in emerging economies outside China, “the average size of awarded solar PV projects rose by 4.5 times over the five years through 2017, while that of onshore wind rose by half.”

Despite these positive developments globally, the situation for renewables in Pakistan remains bleak. Nepra notes that generation additions over the next three years don’t include major additions of solar and wind.

It also points out that even although initially technical issues had been hurdles for large-scale renewable deployment; it is now the lack of a clear policy by the Ministry of Water and Power (MoWP) that is creating hurdles for the sector despite a number of solar and wind generation projects completing all procedural requirements for implementation.

Nepra has also encouraged the set-up of small hydropower plants which it believes “are the priority source of power generation in the long term scenario of any country in the world.” But policy making on this front has also been lacking.

Then there is the role of the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEBD) which publicly made a commitment to develop RFP documentation for competitive bidding of renewable energy projects. However, the regulator notes that despite a gap of almost a year and a half, the documents remain in thin air which has created uncertainty for potential investors in the renewable energy space.

The role of the CPPA has also been found to be discriminatory towards various IPPs and other power projects by the regulator. In a time where the world is adopting renewables at a rapid pace, it is unfortunate to see local institutions holding an illogical grudge against the sector. The next government should get the MoWP to lead and embrace renewables so that the country can benefit from clean, sustainable and affordable energy.