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Pakistan's Energy & Water - News and Updates

EIB agrees to provide €100m for 128MW Keyal Khwar Hydropower project.

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STAFF REPORT ISB: The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a €100m long-term loan to Pakistan to finance the construction of the 128MW Keyal Khwar Hydropower project.
KWF will also offer financial support for the project, a statement from the EIB said.
EIB Vice President Magdalena Alvarez, during his recent visit to Pakistan, had signed an agreement with the government in this regard. He also invited to with future energy efficiency projects.
Alvarez, who is in charge of the EIB’s operations in Asia, said, “The EIB is committed to supporting investment in renewable energy and helping countries around the world reduce carbon emissions. At the same time the EIB is pleased to be able to support Pakistan in this important sector, addressing the increased demand of energy in the country.”
The investment will provide a clean and reliable supply of electric power contributing to climate change mitigation, which is a fundamental goal of the EU, he maintained.
The WAPDA will construct the plant. It is estimated that the construction period will be four years starting from January 2013.
This is the fifth project supported by the EIB in Pakistan. Since it began lending in Asia in 1993, the EIB has provided more than €5.1 billion on long-term basis.
EIB agrees to provide €100m for 128MW Pak hydro project | Technology Times
 
Chinese experts connect Neelum-Jhelum

tunnels with precision



Khalid MustafaTuesday, June 17, 2014
From Print Edition


ISLAMABAD: In a landmark development on Neelum Jhelum Dam project, Chinese experts on Monday connected the 10 kilometers long under ground tunnel coming from Jhelum river side with the tunnel connecting the power house with almost 100 percent perfection.



These experts completed the gigantic task of connecting the two tunnels with precision (only with minor difference of 6 centimeters) and celebrated the occasion with pride.The Chief Executive of Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project company, Gen (R) Mohammad Zubair, when contacted, confirmed that it was a great milestone in the history of the project.



It speaks about the Chinese geologists’ expertise is touching new hights and they are working here day and night to complete the state-of-art project which is of paramount importance.“We have crossed the Jehlum river bed through the completion of underneath 10 Kilometer long tunnel and connected with Addit-5 (tunnel connecting with power house), the CEO said.



“The precision connection of the two tunnels gains significance if kept in view the case of just 8.5 Kilometers Lowari tunnel. When the said small tunnel was dug from both sides and at the time of connection there was a huge difference of 1.5 Meters,” he recalled mentioning how wonderfully connection with precision has been made in the case of Neelum-Jehlum River.



Gen Zubair explained that 71% of the 48 Kilometers water tunnel has been excavated and with the working of high tech tunnel boring machines (TBMs), the excavation work has picked up pace.



The site of power house and transformers hall (both are under ground) has been 100% excavated. So much so, draft tubes in the power house site are being installed and three out of four have been put in.



At the dam site, CEO said the 74% construction work got completed and the site for de-sander has been 100% hollowed out and wherein concrete work is now speedily underway.However, the officials in the Ministry of Water and Power dealing with Neelum-Jhelum project are quite upset and express their apprehension that the construction work on project may get slowed down or halted as the construction company of the project has not been provided the amount of Rs14 billion so far.



Though Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif has sanctioned the said amount to the Chinese construction company, but three weeks have elapsed and no amount has been delivered to the said company.
 
4 Lessons Pakistan’s Off-Grid Solar Market Can Teach the World
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Justin Guay and Vrinda Manglik on Pakistan’s rising market for off-grid solar

Justin Guay and Vrinda Manglik
June 20, 2014

When it comes to the off-grid solar market, the South Asian countries you normally hear about are India and Bangladesh. One is home to the largest potential market in the world, the other is home to the world's most successful and booming market to date.

But the elephant in the room, the potential off-grid solar leader you never hear about, is Pakistan. We've heard rumblings of off-grid solar companies eyeing this market for some time, so we sat down to talk with Jeremy Higgs ofEcoEnergyFinance to find out the latest on this pivotal country's off-grid solar prospects.

Before we delve into the market, it's important to understand the context in which these companies operate. That energy situation can be summed up in one word: crisis.

As Carl Pope pointed out, Pakistan really has two energy problems: 1) most of the rural population still has no access to the grid, and 2) the population that does have access to the grid is struggling with power cuts and supply shortages caused by climate disruption-induced drought. This ultimately affects the use of hydropower while the skyrocketing prices of oil further reduce the affordability of the existing supply.

In fact, 36 percent of Pakistan's electricity comes from oil, an outdated and incredibly costly form of electricity production. This means that throughout Pakistan, nearly 40 percent of the population -- an estimated 65 million people -- lack access to any energy, which means that there's an enormous potential market for off-grid solar services.

The problem, of course, is that the Pakistani government's response to the country's energy crisis has been painfully familiar, with a focus on large-scale supply and grid extension.

And while grid supply and grid shortages need to be addressed, what makes no sense is for Pakistan to start building new coal-burning power plants to supply their energy. Any new plants that are built will be designed to be powered with imported coal, which Pakistan can't afford. In fact, the government of Pakistan just released a new tariff schedule for coal-burning electricity -- which is evidently the "most expensive coal tariff in the world." That's why some experts predict that a coal bubble is brewing.

It's in the midst of this energy crisis, and in the face of the confused response from the Pakistani government, that EcoEnergyFinance is seeking a different path. The firm is trying a progressive new approach: putting solar power directly in the hands of the people. And the lessons they've learned have implications far beyond Pakistan's borders.

Lesson #1: Giving away solar leads to market spoilage
EcoEnergyFinance is one of only a handful of off-grid energy companies in a market dominated by large non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and foundations. The company started operations in response to the Sindh Province floods of 2010. Like many other organizations, EcoEnergyFinance initially began as an NGO, giving away solar lanterns for free. And like many before, the company received a lot of negative feedback about the quality of its products and heard concerns about long-term sustainability. In response, EcoEnergyFinance quickly pivoted into a hybrid social enterprise by aiming to use a market approach -- which is a reflection of the general transition this market has seen over the past decade.

The products that EcoEnergyFinance sells now are not the same low-quality products that were given away for free. Today, EcoEnergyFinance sells high-quality portable solar powered lights -- like those from d.light -- and they are continuing to experiment with different business models to find the best organizational structure.

Lesson #2: Pay-as-you-go finance is the future
After trying free distribution, EcoEnergyFinance started selling products through retailers, but they quickly realized that their products were too expensive and that they would need to restructure payments to match customer cash flow and expenditure on lighting products. This naturally led to the extension of consumer financing, which unlocked affordability for their target market.

Customers now pay a monthly fee to EcoEnergyFinance in order to pay off their lantern over time. This essentially functions as a "manual" version of popular pay-as-you-go solutions in which similar solar devices with circuitry enable customers to make discrete payments. In addition to its "manual" approach, EcoEnergyFinance is also starting to experiment with similar payment-enabled devices through support from the GSM Association MECS Fund.

Lesson #3: Word-of-mouth marketing is key
Then came the real game-changer: instead of just focusing on retailers, EcoEnergyFinance started using its own existing customers as brand ambassadors to spread the word about its product. As the graph below shows, this led to skyrocketing sales. The sharp drop after the peak is a result of several factors, including the fact that residents of farming communities in Pakistan tend to have less disposable income at certain times of the year -- February, March, and April -- and the fact that EcoEnergyFinance faced challenges with payment collection in one district. The company has since recuperated by focusing on payment collection, not sales, in that particular district, which has lowered the overall sales rates.

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Lesson #4: Market information is scarce
Despite these initial successes, challenges still exist. The customers EcoEnergyFinance works with tend to have unpredictable, seasonal income and are not always able to reliably make payment deadlines. Field staff have to balance sales and payment collection, and they aren't always able to effectively do so.

To continue addressing these challenges, EcoEnergyFinance is gathering information about marketing, effective sales tactics, demographic information, and statistics on kerosene, torch, and solar use. Additionally, the company is looking at a range of products, including Greenlight Planet lights with Angaza-designed technology and BBOX systems with their new “SMART” technology, as well as working to partner with microfinance institutions for alternative means of financing.

In sum, EcoEnergyFinance reflects a number of hard-learned lessons for this nascent market -- lessons that are no doubt being learned by companies and organizations the world over. But if EcoEnergyFinance is able to build and grow a company in such a challenging setting, it says a lot about the robust future that off-grid solar companies have in in store.

4 Lessons Pakistan’s Off-Grid Solar Market Can Teach the World : Greentech Media
 
  • Ministry of Water and Power made shocking revelations that Pakistan's obsolete transmission system will collapse if more than 15000 MW electricity is transmitted at one time, adding that successive governments did not invest in transmission and distribution system.
 
Lucky Electric Power Company Limited (LEPCL), a newly-formed entity of LUCK, will set up 660MW coal-fired power project in Karachi with an investment of PKR 20bn. The Board has recommended for the approval of the shareholders, an equity investment of approximately PKR 20bn equals to USD 200mn approximately for the above referred project to be set up by a newly-formed entity by the name of Lucky Electric Power Company Limited (LEPCL).
 
Lucky Electric Power Company Limited (LEPCL), a newly-formed entity of LUCK, will set up 660MW coal-fired power project in Karachi with an investment of PKR 20bn. The Board has recommended for the approval of the shareholders, an equity investment of approximately PKR 20bn equals to USD 200mn approximately for the above referred project to be set up by a newly-formed entity by the name of Lucky Electric Power Company Limited (LEPCL).

Just checked Lucky's wiki page. Someone from the neighbourhood has edited the page to show the companies headquarter in bombay and is referring to BSE in the intro section instead of KSE.

Lucky Cement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Just checked Lucky's wiki page. Someone from the neighbourhood has edited the page to show the companies headquarter in bombay and is referring to BSE in the intro section instead of KSE.

Lucky Cement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well they have corrected it:
Lucky Cement Limited
TypePrivate
Traded asKSE: LUCK
Founded1996
Founder(s)Abdul Razzak Tabba
HeadquartersKarachi, Pakistan
Number of locationsPezu Islamabad Multan Lahore
Key peopleMuhammad Ali Tabba Muhammad Yunus Tabba Muhammad Sohail Tabba
ProductsOrdinary Portland Cement Sulphate Resistant Cement Clinker Block Cement
ParentYunus Brothers Group
Websitewww.yunusbrothersgroup.com
 
The problem with coal power plants is the high rate of pollution it will produce and with global warming the coal plants are not an ideal solution.

Perhaps a better solution would have been , solar farms on Industrial scale ... same money .. FREE electricity and no cost to environment and people's health

However any initiative is a good one in current crisis the country is in
 
still a balance of energy sources is the final solution of energy security. I hope before the economy start to fly this won't be an issue hasslling the economy.

Hydropower shall be an priority in the final considerting the geography and then the renewable energy.
 
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