MULTAN, Dec 07 (APP): Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division) Khurram Dastgir Khan on Wednesday said that 100 Megawatt ‘Zhenfa Solar Power Project’ was launched in south Punjab to increase the production of affordable and environment-friendly electricity.
The per unit price of the electricity generated by the project will be Rs 9 and the project will replace imported fuel.
The federal minister expressed these views during the inauguration ceremony of the solar power project at Tehsil Chobara, District Layyah here.
The minister said that the project was initiated in 2015 and it would save USD 30 million in foreign exchange annually.
He said that a policy was devised to generate inexpensive electricity, under which thousands of megawatts of power would be generated using solar energy in different areas of the country.
All the power generating units in the country would generate electricity from local fuel in future. “Foreign reserves will be saved by reducing the consumption of imported oil, furnace oil and coal”, Dastgir added.
He said, “110 MW wind power generation project has been started in Jhampir recently, while work has also been started on 880 MW Sukhi Kanari Hydro power project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The incumbent government is rapidly working on eco-friendly and affordable power generation projects that will yield far-reaching results”.
The minister said that 1320 MW inexpensive electricity from local coal by Shanghai Electric Power Project in Thar area of Sindh province would start providing electricity with full potential from next month.
The federal minister said that efforts were underway for generating affordable electricity to facilitate the masses. Local coal, hydro, wind and solar power generation projects were being promoted to speed up the journey of country’s development.
Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) Managing Director Shahjahan, National Transmission and Dispatch Company Limited (NTDCL) Managing Director Dr Abdul Jabbar and Imran Shirazi from Atlas group also spoke.
General Manager Operation MEPCO Nasir Ayaz Gurmani, General Manager Technical Zafar Iqbal Gill and other MEPCO officials were also present.
