ISLAMABAD: K-Electric (KE) has shown interest in development and offtake of power from renewable energy (RE) projects of 3,000 MW to be developed by M/s ACWA Power, which is mainly focusing on Saudi Arabia.
The power utility has expressed its intention in a letter to the Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal.
The KE, being the only private and vertically-integrated utility company in Pakistan, is responsible for the generation, transmission, and distribution of power in Karachi and its adjoining areas; thereby, serving over 3.4 million customers.
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The KE remains obligated for end-to-end planning of its power value chain and performs the functions of a planner for its service area.
The ACWA Power is a global investment and holding company with its headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With a strong presence in the energy and water sectors, ACWA Power operates across multiple countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Oman, and others.
The ACWA Power is actively investing in more than 15 countries, especially in renewable energy sector.
According to the letter written by the KE’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Syed Moonis Abdullah Alvi, the power company, KE, has formulated a roust long-term development plan which focuses on development of RE projects and base load capacity based on indigenous resources.
Development of RE generation projects is a cornerstone of KE’s long-term generation planning strategy, which is being actively in the process of development of several RE based initiatives.
The CEO KE is of the view that to further increase its RE footprint, KE believes that engagement with the ACWA Power, a formidable development company and sponsor has the potential to fast track development of large scale RE projects in Pakistan.
The ACWA had previously tried to venture into Pakistani market where it entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2019 with the Government of Pakistan (GoP), which encompassed investment of $ 4 billion in solar and wind energy sector. Unfortunately, the past interest could not be actualised due to various impeding factors. However, KE is confident that it can convince ACWA Power to reconsider its interest for developing RE projects Pakistan to sell power to KE, and to work as its joint partner.
“We would like to apprise GoP through discussions with one of our shareholder, Infrastructure Structure Growth Fund, we are confident that ACWA Power can be persuaded to develop up to 3,000MW RE capacity in Pakistan, where ACWA Power can initiate the construction as early as Q1 of year 2024 if the requisite support from GoP is available,” Alvi said in his letter to the minister for planning.
The intended locations for setting up these projects will be within the proven wind corridors of Gharo and Jhimpir regions of Sindh province, which are also in vicinity of the existing transmission network of KE.
“Addition of large scale RE capacity with a world renowned developer will substantially reduce KE’s generation basket at a breakneck rate, and provide much needed relief to its consumers via addition of low cost, sustainable power in grid, facilitating GoP to achieve its long term goal of energy security,” Alvi maintained.
The KE has further stated that it is very positive that GoP will appreciate the efforts made by it in reinvigorating the interest of ACWA Power in Pakistan.
“As the development of RE projects will help attract the much indeed foreign direct investment in the country; thus, bolstering the foreign reserves; along with infusing confidence in foreign investors to consider Pakistan as an attractive destination for investment,” CEO KE said, requesting the GoP’s support in bringing the idea towards fruition, and expediently resolve the bottlenecks that may arise during the future implementation phases of the project.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023