Year: 2022

KARACHI: Both the Renewable & Alternative Energy Association of Pakistan (REAP) and the Pakistan Solar Association (PSA) have urged the federal government to immediately withdraw its proposal to impose 17 per cent GST on solar and wind power generation equipment as otherwise Pakistan’s continuing drive to ensure its energy security through clean power sources would be severely compromised. A press statement issued by the REAP quoted its Chairman, Muhammad Tariq Khattak, as saying that this highly controversial and ill-conceived proposal could set the nation on an accelerated energy poverty slide…

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There are up to 85 locations across motorways, which are available for the development of DC-fast charging infrastructure for Electric Vehicles (EVs) to prevent ‘range-anxiety’ in adoption of modern electric cars in the country, a report identified. Titled ‘Developing Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Across Highways and Motorways of Pakistan’, the report was prepared to highlight the issues and potential being faced by the users in adoption of EVs by the LUMS’ energy institute in collaboration with the ministry of Climate Change and the National Center in Big Data and Cloud…

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The most recent wake-up call for the Pakistani elite was last week’s mini budget. Nearly every aspect of this mini budget exposes a profound crisis at the heart of what is and what will be Pakistan for the over 110 million Pakistanis below the age of 23. Let’s count some of the more obvious crises to begin with. Shaukat Tarin, the finance minister was left dangling despite a six-month timeline afforded to the good folks that brought him into office in the first place, to convert his status to one…

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Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (SSGCL) has said that it is facing a shortfall of around 240-250 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas primarily because of depleting indigenous supplies and constant increase in demand. Clarifying a news report published in Dawn’s Jan 2 issue under the headline ‘Eight-hour gas supply hampering Karachi export industry’, the gas utility said that in January 2021 around 1,010mmcfd average gas was available for supply compared to 940 mmcfd in December 2021. A similar situation is likely to persist in the ongoing month…

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The government’s decision to impose 17 per cent sales tax on solar panels, inverters and related equipment will jeopardise the very essence of the National Renewable Energy Policy which aims to acquire a 30 per cent share of renewables in energy mix by 2030. Pakistan Solar Association chairman Rana Ghulam Abbas said the increase in prices of solar energy systems/equipment is taken as a threat to the progress of the renewable energy sector and all the stakeholders foresee a drastic negative impact on the future of renewable in the country.…

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