Public Sector Advised to Switch Over To Solar Water Heaters
Interesting push from our goverment. Our energy minister has a tough job, I am sure!
Pakistan government is fully supportive of all efforts for production and promotion of solar water heaters in Pakistan, said Raja Pervez Ashraf, Chairman AEDB/Minister for Water and Power, while presiding over the 19th AEDB Board meeting here on Friday. He said that the use of solar water heaters would drastically reduce gas consumption in Pakistan, besides electricity, wood, cow-dung etc were spent on water heating would also be saved. More from the Press Release:
Raja Pervez Ashraf highly praising AEDB and local entrepreneur for establishing the first-ever solar water heaters manufacturing unit in Pakistan near Islamabad directed AEDB to help create a market for the solar water heaters and take all possible steps for promoting the use of solar water heaters in the country.
He also directed AEDB to arrange meetings with the prospective investors, and to especially involve local Chambers of Commerce and Industries to chart out a course of action for attracting investments in this vital sector that would largely help in conserving the fast depleting gas and forest reservoirs and heavy foreign exchange spent on oil imports annually.
Raja Pervaiz Ashraf stressed upon the public sector organisations to immediately take lead in switching over to solar water heating system. The Federal Minister informed the Board that the Federal government would establish Northern Areas Electricity Development Company to facilitate setting up of power generation projects in the region. He said that the decision was taken by the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) on a summary moved by Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas in consultation with AEDB and Ministry of Water and Power.
The story continues.
The Board was informed that AEDB had awarded Letter of Intent to a private sector company to establish 16-20 MW hydel power project on River Gilgit near Gilgit city. The company could not proceed with the feasibility study because of certain procedural matters and had sought clarification on them. Moreover, the Board was told that legal aspects of extending the jurisdiction of power sector regulator Nepra to Northern Areas would also be studied.
The Board was further informed that ECC has been requested for considering the extension of national grid in the Northern Areas and setting up of regional grids in co-ordination with Planning Commission, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Water and Power. The ECC decision had addressed the concerns of the investor firm, which had decided to move ahead with the feasibility study of the project.
The Board was also informed that three private sector power generation companies, FFC, Beacon Energy and M/s Green Power (Pvt) Ltd, would shortly start setting up its wind farm in Jhimpir. The new projects would add another 150 MW and are expected to be launched in mid next year would comprise 33 towers with an installed capacity of 1.5 MW wind turbine generator each, with an aggregate capacity to generate 50MW of electricity each.
The Board approved the holding of the First International Alternative and Renewable Energy Symposium in February 2010. The event would educate potential investors about the opportunities available in the alternative and renewable energy sectors in the country and the achievements made so far.
Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf presided over the meeting, which was attended by Arif Alauddin, Muhammad Ayub Sanjrani, Farid-ullah Khan, Arshad Mehmood Malik, AVM Tariq Mateen, Mansoor Elahi, Muhammad Ashraf Aziz and Dr Atta M. Panhwar.
water heaters can sometimes fail because of over voltages in the power line “