Karachi: A consortium of Pakistan’s leading wind energy producers today issued an urgent rebuttal to recent claims made by the Independent System and Market Operator (ISMO), warning that the systematic and unjustified curtailment of wind power plants— the nation’s most affordable energy source at just Rs. 14 per unit —is driving the renewable energy sector toward a catastrophic financial breaking point.
The consortium explicitly rejects recent media statements from the ISMO suggesting that curtailment is not occurring or is being managed effectively. Furthermore, the consortium highlights that the current compensation mechanism for lost energy is a mathematical failure that is crippling project cash flows.
By throttling the country’s most cost-effective power source, the ISMO is not only compromising national energy security but also jeopardizing the long-term viability of billions of dollars in sustainable investment.
This is the stance taken by the FFPCCI Committee on Renewable Energy in its meeting held on 17th March 2026 and chaired by Mr. Fawad Jawed.
Correcting the Record:
The Reality of Curtailment
• The NPMV Fallacy:
The ISMO’s assertion that the Non-Project Missed Volume (NPMV) adequately compensates producers is completely false. This massive shortfall is fundamentally crippling the liquidity of these projects.
• Misplaced Grid Risk: At the time of investment, wind power plants did not account for grid unavailability (Grid Risk). These projects were established under the legal mandate of mandatory off-take. To now force projects to bear the cost of an inadequate grid is a breach of the foundational trust upon which these multi-billion rupee investments were built
• Financial Jeopardy: Current curtailment levels have slashed plant utilization to 70% annually. While projects are fighting to remain solvent, if this trajectory persists, it will become impossible for producers to fulfill international debt obligations. This trajectory threatens a systemic collapse of renewable energy financing in Pakistan.
• Broken Task Force Assurances: Wind producers agreed to lower tariffs following explicit assurances from the Energy Task Force that curtailment would be eliminated or significantly reduced. Instead, curtailment has intensified, violating both the Renewable Energy Policy and signed Energy Purchase Agreements (EPAs).
• The “Rooftop Solar” Narrative: The ISMO’s attempts to justify the curtailment of “must-run” wind projects by citing rooftop solar are unacceptable. The licensing of such projects occurred under ISMO’s purview; it is an abdication of responsibility to blame market conditions that the ISMO and CPPA enabled, particularly when those conditions should have been factored into demand forecasting and license allocations.
• The “Wheeling” Contradiction: While the ISMO promotes new “Wheeling Auctions,” it is failing to dispatch existing, fully-built plants. Launching new competitive models without resolving current grid management failures is a strategic failure that destabilizes the entire market.
• A Costly Dispatch Policy: By prioritizing expensive thermal plants over “must-run” wind energy, the ISMO is effectively adding an avoidable burden to the national economy and the common man.
Demands for Immediate Action:
The consortium calls for an immediate intervention from the Ministry of Energy and NEPRA:
- Stop Throttling Cheap Renewable Energy: Adhere to the Must Run Policy and prioritize cheap and clean energy available to the grid.
- Save Plants From Financial Collapse and Reform the NPMV Formula: The compensation formula must be changed to compensate wind power plants in full for lost energy that could have been produced.
- Full Dispatch Compliance: Immediate shutdown of expensive RLNG plants in favor of full wind dispatch to protect the common man from rising fuel costs.
- Redirection to K-Electric: Evacuate excess wind energy to the KE grid instead of wasteful curtailment.
- Completion of Transmission Line and Grid Infrastructure: Immediate completion of grid, transmission & ancillary infrastructure
- BESS Integration: Immediate authorization for wind plants to install Battery Energy Storage Systems to store curtailed energy and capture every megawatt of clean energy produced.
- Suspension of New Auctions: Halt all new wheeling auctions until exiting plants are fully utilized and the grid network is technically reinforced.
“The ISMO’s narrative that we are ‘adequately compensated’ is a distortion of the facts,” said a spokesperson for the consortium. “Paying 38% for 100% readiness is a recipe for bankruptcy. At Rs. 14, our energy is the cheapest in the country, yet it is being wasted while the nation pays for expensive imports. We demand transparency and a compensation structure that reflects the reality of our operations and the requirements of our debt providers.”
“We are maintaining 100% plant readiness for only 70% utilization, creating a financial strain that is rapidly becoming unsustainable,” said a spokesperson for the consortium. “It is an economic tragedy to witness the ISMO waste Pakistan’s cheapest power while the country struggles with fuel import bills. . The ISMO is effectively forcing the people of Pakistan to pay for fossil fuel while the wind blows freely and clean energy is wasted. This is not just a technical failure; it is an economic crime against the common man.”
We are calling for transparency and accountability for these dispatch decisions that favor thermal plants over our nation’s energy security.”
