Denmark is willing to assist Pakistan to more effectively explore and utilise its potential for power generation through renewable means as Danish technologies and products were being used by a number of countries for the same cause, said Danish Ambassador to Pakistan Rof Michael Hay Pereira Holmboe.

He was addressing the inaugural session of second International Wind Energy Summit organised by Energy Update in collaboration with Sindh Energy Department and Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB). He said that natural climatic conditions in Pakistan, especially in Sindh and Balochistan, were favourable to produce electricity using renewable means of power.

“If Denmark can achieve up to 56 percent of its power generation through renewable resources and by the year 2035, 100 percent of its power generation through clean sources of energy, the same is achievable by Pakistan given that it adopts a strong political will and consistency in policies for energy sector,” he said.

Holomboe suggested that one such option for Pakistan could be installation of offshore wind power projects near the coast of Karachi similar to experiments currently being done by many northern European countries.

“What I learnt that Pakistan at present is just producing 1.5 percent of its electricity through renewable means, a dismal figure given the favourable conditions available in the country. Pakistan has to actively make progress to produce more electricity using alternative means,” he added.

He said that Pakistani government had to make a choice whether to continue using expensive conventional fuels for power generation or switch to cheaper means for energy generation through alternative means.

He said that once Pakistan resorted to clean sources of energy, the cost of power production would ultimately decrease to lessen the burden of energy sector on the economy. While that option would also be helpful in improving environmental conditions in the country and resolving serious issues like smog currently prevailing in the province of Punjab, he said.

He said that countries in the region like India and China seemed to have adopted policies in the energy sector that would enhance their reliance on alternative means for power production and Pakistan had to pursue the same path.

He said that increasing reliability on renewable means for power generation was a win-win situation for economy of any country as it increased efficiency in the energy that is helpful for economic development.

The Danish envoy said that Denmark had made a choice in the 1970s to go for the option of exploring renewable means of energy, instead of opting for nuclear power production or any other conventional mean of energy production using hydrocarbon fuels. That choice was made when Denmark like other countries in the region had been facing an oil crisis. “This choice proved successful for the country as now Denmark was considered the leader in the global community, maximally relying on wind energy to produce cheaper electricity,” said the Danish ambassador.

He said that Denmark had been working on a plan to make its entire energy consumption completely carbon-free by year 2050 and it had been actively pursuing renewable means and using hybrid methods to maximise energy generation through wind, solar power and waste-to-energy methods.

Zafar Sobani, a senior energy sector expert said, that it was high time Pakistan achieves minimum 5 percent of its power generation from alternative means of electricity, that had been the set target in renewable energy policy adopted by government more than a decade ago. The present 1.5 percent production of electricity through renewable means was quite low, he added.

Rashid Hussain Kazi, Sindh Energy Department special secretary, said that Gharo-Jhimpir Wind corridor was currently producing 788 megawatts of renewable energy while a similar volume of renewable energy production would be achieved by next year on basis of new projects being installed in the same wind corridor.

He said that Sindh had been pursuing a balanced energy policy in order to utilise both conventional and alternative sources of power production to utilise true potential of the province for energy production. The Thar coal and power project is one such example proving that Sindh could provide energy solution for the entire country, said Kazi.