Pakistan’s parliament has received an interesting gift from China – a solar power system.

According to PakistanToday, the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated the 1.2MW project on Tuesday, which will supply power to the parliament building

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said President Xi Jinping’s visit, the first since he assumed office in 2013, would usher in a new era of development in Pakistan and start a new chapter in the friendship between the two countries.

Part of that friendship involves renewable energy.

The countries concluded a number of documents, agreements/MoUs relating to energy, including:

Term Sheet of the facility for Zonergy 9×100 MW solar project in Punjab between China Development Bank Corporation, EXIM Bank of China and Zonergy Company limited.

Drawdown Agreement on Jhimpir wind Power project between UEP Wind power (Private) Limited as Borrower and China Development Bank Corporation as lender

Facility operating Agreement for Dawood Wind Power project between ICBC and PCC of China and HDPPL.

The two leaders also inaugurated the energising of a 100 MW solar power plant at Quad-i-Azam solar park, Bahawalpur by unveiling a plaque.

Ground breaking of a number of other renewables projects was also jointly performed by Prime Minister and President via video link:

Karot 720 MW Hydropower project.

Dawood 50 MW Wind-power project.

Sachal 50 MW Wind-power project

Zonergy 900 MW solar project.

Jhimpir 100 MW Wind-power project

Another country’s parliament building that recently started harvesting power from the sun is Israel’s Knesset. 1,500 solar panels were recently installed on the Knesset’s rooftops. The 450kW system is expected to supply around 10% of the building’s electricity.

Other energy saving measures, such as the installation of thousands of LED lights, combined with the solar electricity are expected to reduce the Knesset’s mains grid energy use by a third.

At the unveiling in March, Israel declared its solar PV array to be the “largest solar field in any parliament in the world,” but it’s a title it appears to have lost to Pakistan after just a few weeks.

Australia’s Parliament House also has solar panels installed, although a fraction of the size of Israel and Pakistan’s parliament buildings – 43kW.