LAHORE: Chairman National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Tauseef H Farooqi has said that Nepra has allowed promotion of solar projects despite strong opposition. He was talking to media during his visit to the Solar Expo at Expo Centre Lahore on Saturday. The three-day exhibition will have more than 100 exhibiting companies with a number of versatile technologies on display.

He said solar is a cheap source of power generation. Nepra is also promoting net metering and the consumers can sell power after generating it through solar sources, he added.

According to him, the prime minister has capped petrol price besides offering a discount of Rs5 per unit on electricity. He said it is duty of Nepra to fix the price of electricity after examining the price of oil and dollar for the government. However, he added, it is the prerogative of the government that how much subsidy it offers to consumers. “We are making sincere efforts to provide clean and cheap electricity to consumers,” he asserted. The Chairman Nepra said the country was generating 40,000 megawatt electricity against a demand of 30,000 megawatt at present.

Chairman NEPRA Tausif Farooqi said that it is a wonderful initiative by the FAKT Exhibitions as they have come up to supplement the government efforts to achieve its vision of Clean Green Pakistan.

He said that Pakistan has a great potential of renewable solar energy and we believe that it is the right time to promote and invest in the solar sector. “The govt spends millions on the oil import and use the same for electricity production while solar energy is cheapest source and can help solve country’s energy needs economically,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022