Pakistan will soon get its first ever green cricket stadium at Karachi. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is considering converting National Stadium Karachi into the country’s first ever solar-powered sports stadium.

A Dubai-based Pakistani Asad Ullah Khan, who is the owner of a solar energy company, visited the National Stadium. Following his visit, he proposed the idea of a solar panel roof to the PCB management.

This will be Pakistan’s 1st and Asia’s only 2nd solar powered stadium

United Arab Emirates (UAE) has successfully installed solar panels which are providing sufficient energy to fill the needs of various stadiums in the region.

Talking to media, Asad said:

Solar energy is becoming a reliable source of power and Dubai Cricket Stadium is using solar technology to fulfill its electricity needs. Dubai stadium’s floodlights also use the green source of power.

National Stadium has about 40,000sq/m space available on its rooftop. If the whole area is covered by solar panels then it will provide about 1.5 MW of electricity, which will be more than enough to power the entire stadium’s needs including the floodlights.

Asad further added:

If PCB approves this project, it will take 18 months to install solar panels at the stadium’s rooftop. The total cost of project could be around Rs. 700 million.

It is worth pointing out that this estimated budget is less than the budget Najam Sethi had set to resolve the Pakistan-India dispute, which was 1 million pounds.

Currently, National Stadium is undergoing a massive rehabilitation work and it will be completed by February 2019.

There are 11 sports stadiums around the world which are successfully using the sun as a source of electricity. Out of these, 8 are dedicated for football while the remaining are cricket stadiums.