Tractebel, an engineering company of Engie, has said that it will help Pakistan’s Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) set up a new plan to add 9 GW of solar power by 2030.
Tractebel is currently doing technical and economic analyses of things like land supply, solar project prices, siting, and growth, all of which will be taken into account in upcoming auctions.
“We will help and give advice on the preparation of request for proposal (RFP) packages for independent power producer (IPP) and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC), as well as the entire bidding process, including contract negotiations,” the Belgium-based business said. “The job is expected to be done by early 2024.”
The plan of the Pakistani government is to build 6 GW of large-scale photovoltaic plants, 2 GW of medium-sized solar projects that are no bigger than 4 MW, and 1 GW of rooftop PV power.
The World Bank stated in May 2022 that Pakistan needed to start renewable energy bids right away, which its energy regulator had approved in 2017. The World Bank suggested a two-pronged approach that includes finding big renewable energy parks, mostly in the windy provinces of Balochistan and Sindh, as well as smaller project capacities that can be auctioned off near electricity substations with available capacity.
According to the study, the generation capacity for the auctions should be in blocks of at least 50 MW, with slices of 300 MW to 600 MW within the big parks. Tariffs should be set no later than 33 weeks after the start of each bidding process. The highest bid price for each auction should be set based on the results of earlier auctions, and the resulting power purchase agreements (PPAs) should last 20 to 25 years.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Pakistan had about 1.24 GW of total solar power output by the end of 2022.
