The World Bank has signed a financing agreement with the government of Pakistan to provide $100M in various projects related to Sindh solar energy project. Secretary Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Noor Ahmed signed the financing agreement on behalf of the government of Pakistan while Secretary Energy Department, government of Sindh, Musadiq Ahmed Khan signed the project agreement on behalf of the provincial government. Country Director World Bank Patchamuthu Illangovan signed the financing and project agreements on behalf of International Development Association
The multi facet project includes three market segments, including utility scale, distributed generation and at the household level. The utility scale solar includes development of solar parks to support private sector investment and launching of Pakistan’s first competitive bidding for solar power production, starting with an initial 50MW pilot solar auction.
The distributed solar includes at least 20MW of distributed solar PV on rooftops and other available spaces on and around public sector buildings in Karachi, Hyderabad and other districts of Sindh, besides provision of solar home systems to 200,000 households in the areas with low or no electricity access.
The International Development Association (IDA) will extend financing of $100 million for the project and government of Sindh will contribute $5 million for the $105 million project. This project will help reduce Pakistan’s carbon footprint and support power producers to develop 400MW of new solar power for the province.
