Chief Minister

RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT IN BALOCHISTAN

INTRODUCTION

Balochistan is the largest and the most under developed province of Pakistan. Lack of sufficient energy resources is the main constrain in the economic and social development of the province, especially among the rural masses.

The Government of Pakistan assigns a high priority to provide electricity to lesser developed areas of the country. As the traditional methods, depending upon hydel energy, are not sufficient to meet the demand and that the thermal energy resources are expensive and environmentally unsafe, renewable energy resources are to be exploited, wherever feasible, for sustainable development at village, district and divisional levels.

PROSPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES

Development and adaptation of renewable energy technologies can bring a revolution in the life style and living standards of low income people in extreme remote areas. How ever for its popularization, there is a need to take certain promotional measures like practical demonstration, education of masses through outreach programs and pilot projects. Fortunately, Balochistan, especially its coastal belt, is blessed with high rate of wind velocities and long sunshine hours.

Solar Energy

Among all renewable sources, the solar energy is the most reliable and abundantly available in the country. The best way to utilize it is to convert the sun energy directly in to electric energy through photovoltaic. Pakistan is ideally located to take advantage of solar technologies to meet the challenge of electricity deficit. It is particularly suitable for small power requirements and remote area applications. The country is already utilizing solar technology for:

Temporary power cathodic protection,
Energization of the transmission / relay stations in the remote areas,
Providing uninterrupted power to stand alone telephone exchanges,
Running the refrigeration system for vaccine and medicines in the hospitals and ,
Providing electricity during load shedding hours.

Other than the ground truth data, National Institute of Silicon Technology (NIST) has developed mathematical models that give the solar insulation values at any time on any surface inclination . Balochistan has average daily global insulation values at any time on any surface inclination .Balochistan has average daily global insulation of 19 to 20 million joules / m2 a day with annual mean sunshine duration of 8 to 8.5 hours and these values are among the highest in the world .For daily global radiation up to 23 million joules/ m2, 24(80%) consecutive days are available in this area. Such a data is ideal for PV and other solar energy applications.

Wind Energy

Wind is another promising renewable source. The technical violability depends on the availability of mean wind speed, which must be at least equal to 3 meter per second for its minimum utility. Most of the wind resources are located either along the sea coast lines or on the mountains. Technology is quite old, mature and commercially viable in areas where sufficient wind energy is available over the year. Since 1980, its use is rapidly growing and becoming cost effective.

Wind power generation system must be located at sites where wind speed is sufficiently high. Wind turbine must be located near the least turbulent, but in the highest wind speed regime. The available wind speed data collected from the meteorological directorate suggest that coastal area of Balochistan has enough wind speed to help generate electricity or to directly operate prime movers for water pumping systems.

EFFORTS MADE TOWARDS DEVELOPING RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES

Ministry of Science and Technology

On the instruction of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Ministry of Science and Technology constituted an expert committee with the following terms of reference during 1999:

Select 15 villages with population of 50 to 60 houses to assess feasibility of windmills for water pumping.
Identify additional 10 villages to assess their suitability for generation of electricity through windmill technology.
Select 15 villages to assess the viability for installation of photovoltaic system, mainly for lighting purposes.

The committee, after detailed investigation, formulated the project for coastal areas with scope of work as follows:

S.No	Description	Quantity	Estimated Cost (Rs in Million)
1	Supply and installation of windmills at 15 villages (w/pump)	15 Nos	3.00
2	Supply and installation of windmills to supply electricity to 10 villages	200 Nos	40.00
3	Photovoltaics for electricity for 15 villages	30 Nos	90.00
	SUB TOTAL		133.00
	Supervision, installation and monitoring at 25 %		33.25
	Total		166.25

Efforts Made by NGOs

Realizing the importance of renewable resources, some of the Non Government Organizations have taken lead and installed and are operating wind solar energy resources. The details are as follows:

· Khushali Associates have installed solar and wind power generation system at Zardaloo, Harnai. The system is working effectively and supplying power to beneficiaries.

· Empower, a New Zealand based NGO has also installed a solar and wind power generation system at Chib Kalamati.

· UNDP has undertaken a comprehensive wind mapping study at Pasni which will be useful in collection of data for planning and design of a project.

PROPOSAL TO DEVELOP RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES

To develop the renewable energy resources the Government of Balochistan plans to undertake the following projects:

Install windmill and solar energy systems, estimated as Rs.200.00 million, in coastal areas were sufficient data is available for design purposes, and
Carryout detailed feasibility study for the remaining area at a total cost of Rs. 20.00 million.

Departments

Agriculture