The Pakistan Army allegedly made the decision to shift its Cantonments from an expensive energy system to cheaper solar power, media reports citing sources from the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) have claimed.
The Army intends on producing energy from solar power for self-consumption in its cantonments across the country in an effort to help alleviate the country’s energy crisis.
Colonel Mansoor Mustafa, Director of General Works and Chief Engineer (Army), informed the CEO of AEDB, as well as several other high-ranking officials, that the Army intends to play a role in eradicating the current energy crisis by generating energy from solar power.
The projects have already been approved by the Pakistani government, with the assistance of AEDB, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Through competitive bidding, the Pakistan Army granted the projects to successful vendors, including M/s Solis Energy Solutions, M/s Nizam Energy,?and M/s Foundation Solar Energy.
Military Engineering Services (MES) is currently executing projects totalling 54MW at several cantonments all over Pakistan, with some projects exceeding 70% completion on the ground.
However, vendors are experiencing difficulties with the import of offshore components, which has caused several projects to be delayed for the past six months.
As a result, the General Headquarters (GHQ) has requested that AEDB and other authorities involved in the Prime Minister’s Initiative on “Clean and Green Energy” align their vendors with the same facility offered to Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) providers under the scheme.
This will enable them to complete the Army’s outstanding projects while also utilizing cleaner and less expensive solar energy.
Moreover, the government intends to build 10,000 MW solar power plants across the country in order to reduce the cost of energy production, which is currently impossible to afford for industrial, commercial, and domestic consumers.
The federal government has already decided to transition its buildings from the energy system to solar power.
According to NEPRA, the country’s power sector regulator, power companies have not reduced losses or increased?recovery, resulting in higher electricity tariffs.