Staff Reporter
Faisalabad
President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) Rana Muhammad Sikandar Azam Khan has said that plants for renewable energy should be established near major energy load centers to fulfill the needs of these centers in addition to avoiding approximately ten percent transmission losses.
Addressing the 57th meeting of the Punjab Power Development Board on Friday in which he participated through zoom, Rana Sikandar said that Faisalabad is an important energy load center but it is supplied electricity from far flung power houses. ‘’During its transmission the concerned distribution company has to bear minimum ten percent line losses which are recovered from the end-user’’, he said an added that it also play an instrumental role enhancing the electricity tariff.
He said that it had also proposed Chiniot Dam with only Rs.24 to 25 billion construction cost.
It will not only generate cheap 80MW of electricity but also serve as a major water reservoir to meet the irrigation needs of this region, he added. He demanded that new thermal power houses should also be constructed in close proximity of Faisalabad. He further said that government should immediately start work on small hydel units on canals.
The FCCI President said, “These units could generate electricity through run of canal flow. In this connection model of Public Private Partnership (PPP) could be used.” He said that Faisalabad has been blessed with 17 hour per day bright sunlight and we must utilize this unlimited source of energy through solar panels. He further said that this system is most suitable for domestic consumers who could not only curtail their hefty electricity bill but also save themselves from the specter of load shedding.
Rana Sikandar also mentioned historic decrease in oil prices and said that approximately 50 percent of energy is produced through thermal units but the benefit of decrease in oil prices have not been passed on to the electricity consumers which is major cause of high cost of production in Pakistan.
He said that although it is a subject of Federal Government but Punjab should take clear cut stand on this issue to facilitate its industrialist as well as domestic connection holders.
