Staff Report Islamabad
Pakistani officials and representatives from the United States Government celebrated the conclusion of the four-year Sustainable Energy for Pakistan (SEP) project.
Through the SEP project, the U.S. Agency for Inter-national Development (USAID) partnered with the Pakistani government to provide more affordable, and climate- friendly power to Pakistan’s national energy grid while fostering economic growth for the country.
USAID Mission Director Julie Koenen said: “SEP has contributed towards making the energy sector more competitive, modern, efficient, clean, and financially viable for Pakistanis.
I am hopeful that the impact of this work will go beyond the energy sector and benefit the entire economy of Pakistan.”
Waseem Mukhtar, Additional Secretary for the Min-istry of Energy’s Power Division, praised USAID for its partnership, innovation, and support in mak-ing Pakistan’s energy sector more sustainable.
Through this project, USAID increased Pakistan’s wind and solar capacity by approximately 50 per-cent by leveraging more than $900 million in pri-vate investment and facilitating the addition of 860 megawatts of wind and solar projects.
SEP also introduced and standardized several new technolo-gies in Pakistan’s power sector, including smart meters, which the Pakistani government has ex-panded with its own funds.
The U.S. government’s partnership with Pakistan’s energy sector spans many decades and covers a wide range of projects to help Pakistan modernize its energy sector and com-bat the effects of climate change.
