Feb 20 2009
Pakistan seeks renewable investment from UK
In a bid to find a solution to the energy crisis facing their country, Pakistani delegates have met in the UK as part of an alternative energy drive which has been necessitated by a fear of dependence on fossil fuels. During their visit to the UK, the Pakistani group toured various successful renewable energy projects around the country and consulted specialists in order to find possible viable alternatives to fossil fuels which have proved not only dirty, but also expensive and precarious in the region.
Arif Allauddin, Chief Executive of Alternative Energy Development Board who led the delegation on the four day visit highlighted both the need for investment and a need for foreign specialist help in developing a successful Pakistani renewable energy program. After visiting a wind farm near Glasgow, Allauddin asserted that for Pakistan, wind energy represents the best alternative to fossil fuels and that the Pakistani government has already set aside large swathes of land for the construction of turbines between Karachi and Hyderabad.
The Pakistani Alternative Energy Development Board has been keen to highlight the fact that renewable investment in their country offers very attractive returns, using the current example of a Turkish company apparently already generating power wind power in Thatta. The UK government, having already passed the Energy Bill in November of last year, has provisions that will consolidate and help attract further investment in renewables in this country. The proposed feed-in tariff, set to be introduced in 2010 will entice investors by guaranteeing a fixed rate for energy fed in to the national grid from green sources. The Pakistani delegation claims that their government is taking similar measures in order to attract UK investors in to their renewable market.
Having already been impressed by some of the renewable operations currently producing power in the UK, Allauddin made clear the fact that Pakistan will, sometime in the near future have to start generating a far greater percentage of its megawatts from renewable sources if it is to protect itself from any future fossil fuel crises.
