Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has given a deadline of two weeks for mapping 6000-MW solar projects all over the country and recommended tariffs along with indexation to attract international investment.
The orders were issued at a meeting held on September 5, which was presided over by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Effective Governance, Dr. Jehanzeb Khan.
The meeting was also attended by MD PPIB, Director AEDB, senior energy specialist of World Bank, Joint Secretary Finance Ministry, and member PCRWR in person, whereas representatives of Planning Commission, NTDC, NEPRA, and CPPA-G joined on Zoom link.
It was decided during the meeting that the draft policy framework would be prepared and reviewed by independent/ external experts and be submitted within two weeks. Security documents prepared by PPIB may be shared with the members of consultative workshops/ pre-bid conferences.
PPIB /Power Division was said to share the timelines for final consent of the draft policy framework from the competent forum, i.e., ECC, CCOE, and Cabinet. These approvals for proposed solar projects will be acquired in one month.
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Moreover, the meeting gave a one-month deadline to Power Division for the preparation of policy documents to start the process of solarization of public buildings. PPIB would finalize the documents to be vetted by international experts.
PPIB underlined that indexation is required for investment attraction, suggesting a 70% indexation of tariff and O&M for the solar projects funded by foreign investments under the new initiative.
Meanwhile, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), during the meeting, said that consistent with the current policy mechanism, bidding can be done by the provinces. The power regulator added that a single line tariff along with indexation of years will be calculated.
The SAPM gave two weeks’ time to the Power Division, CEO AEDB, and Chairman NEPRA for submission of the mechanism on indexation.
The meeting further decided that different financing avenues and modalities identified by the World Bank may be explored. AEDB would collaborate with World Bank to get complete cognizant of the financial model used by the WB projects in Sindh.
In addition, the Power Division/ AEDB and Ministry of Climate Change will collaborate to ascertain the funding availability under Green Energy and Climate Change regimes with different international financial institutors. This task will be done in two weeks.
