Government has announced that it has scrapped the upfront tariff mechanism for projects based on domestic solar energy resources and through competitive bidding will award power generation contracts.

Government would not be bound to buy power from sustainable power source projects with forthright tax or past courses of action and they would need to win the agreement through focused offering, reported Federal Minister for Power Division Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari at a question and answer session.

Flanked by Minister of State Chaudhry Abid Sher Ali, Leghari reviewed that under the Renewable Energy Policy 2006, a forthright duty administration was acquainted with advanced technology and handle control deficiencies. “As the technology evolves, and technical data is made available, it is high time that the tariff regime is changed, and more competition is brought while promoting renewables in the national grid,” he said.

Special tariff rates offered to power generation companies as an upfront tariff that encouraged them to make an investment in Pakistan. Now, the country has “surplus electricity” and the Cabinet Committee on Energy has approved the change in rules.

The Renewable Energy Policy 2006 (amended in 2013) covers solar, wind, bagasse, and small hydroelectric power projects. The policy envisions mandatory purchase of electricity and forces the power purchaser to tolerate hydrology risks to small hydel projects and risks to wind speed and solar energy.

Leghari said that within the next eight weeks, you will see competitive bidding for the award of 400MW wind and 600MW solar energy projects. New policy will have a significant impact on meeting energy needs of the country at affordable prices.

Leghari dismissed the talk of load-shedding as mere propaganda, emphasizing there were no power outages in any part of the country except for high-loss areas.

He pointed out that the Power Division was losing about Rs135 billion annually mainly on account of theft and its burden was shared by millions of Pakistanis.

All endeavors were being made to stop the burglary and letters had been composed to common boss clergymen requesting that they outline a procedure as a team with the divisions concerned including the law implementation offices, he said.