78 projects of 2,796 megawatts may be completed by 2020

The government is working on a total of 78 renewable energy projects, including solar, wind and biomass, with a cumulative capacity of 2,796 megawatts and they are all expected to be completed by 2020. According to official documents available with Business Recorder, fourteen wind, solar and bagasse co-generation projects with a cumulative capacity of 853.3 megawatts have already been completed since March 2013.
The Alternative Energy Development Board is pursuing the development of renewable energy based power generation projects through private investors on independent power producers (IPPs) mode under the Renewable Energy Policy 2006 and bagasse cogeneration projects under the Framework for Power Cogeneration 2013.
The details of the fourteen renewable energy projects that are operational and providing electricity to national grid include six wind projects, four of them installed in Jhampir and two in Gharo with a cumulative capacity of 308.2 megawatts. Four solar projects of a cumulative capacity of 400 megawatts are installed in Bahawalpur while the other four bagasse projects with a cumulative capacity of 145.1 megawatts are installed in Rahim Yar Khan and Ghotki.
As many as 27 wind projects with a cumulative capacity of 1341 megawatts are currently in the pipeline, out of which nine projects of 477 megawatts are under construction, 18 projects of 864 megawatts are in development phase and they will be completed by 2018-19.
Another 24 solar projects with a cumulative capacity of 556.52 megawatts are also in pipeline, out of which, seven projects of 72.52 megawatts are in the process of achieving financial close and 17 projects of 484 megawatts are in the development stage.
A total of 27 projects of biomass with a cumulative capacity of 899 megawatts are in pipeline, out of which, one project of 15 megawatts is under construction, 11 projects of 372 megawatts are in the development stage and 15 other projects of 512 megawatts are at the proposal stage. The Alternative Energy Development Board officials hope that all the 78 projects will be completed by 2020 and cumulative 2,796 megawatts electricity from these solar, wind and biomass projects will be added into the national grid.