The company started work on the 50MW project in 2006 after receiving a letter of intent from the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) that allocated land for the project the next year. The process was followed by collection of site surveys, detailed data on wind and preparation of a feasibility study and signing of agreements with a joint consortium of wind turbine manufacturer based in Germany, a country currently leading the world’s wind market. The project cost about $134 million and was connected to the 132kV national grid on May 16.

“Twenty-five of 80-metre tall towers of the wind turbines are locally manufactured with the help of foreign expertise at a workshop in Karachi. The technology for manufacturing the blades (each 38-metre long), however, could not be transferred as the foreign firm involved in the project was not ready for it,” Mr Hasan explained.

Fastest growing energy technologyElaborating upon wind energy’s benefits, Asif Aziz, an electrical engineer working as a senior executive at the wind farm, said that wind energy had been the fastest growing energy technology worldwide, achieving an annual growth rate of over 30 per cent as it was getting more efficient and cheaper day by day.

“It seems to be an expensive venture but the cost of electricity being produced by wind farms would decrease with each passing year contrary to the cost of energy produced by non-renewable sources. For instance, currently our tariff rate is Rs13.7/KWh but that would fall to Rs5KWh after 11 years as no fuel cost is involved in case of wind energy,” he said.

The cheap energy, he said, also had the additional benefits of being clean, sustainable with absolutely no harmful effects on the environment. The wind turbines have a life of 20 years and could be easily maintained.

“Besides, a whole wind power plant could be set up within a year. China and India had set up 13,200MW and 3,200MW of wind farms last year,” he said.

Another wind farm having a capacity of 56.4MW is set to start operation in a few days, said Syed Mumtaz Hasan, representing the Zorlu Enerji Pakistan (a Turkish company).

“In fact, we were the first to install wind turbines in Jhimpir. However, the project got suspended when lenders backed off and we had to stop our work in the middle. However, we were back at work after the firm got assistance from other banks,” Mr Hasan said, adding that electricity generation from wind farms could go up to 300MW after the project’s expansion.

According to investors, the government needs to upgrade its grid lines so that electricity could be directly transferred from wind farms to its system as is happening abroad. Right now, sub-stations for converting wind energy into high voltage current are needed for supply to the national grid.

Regarding the progress on wind farms, Sheeraz Anwar Khan, head of the AEDB’s camp office in Karachi, said that at least three more companies had started civil/foundation work for installation of wind turbines in Jhimpir after signing agreements with the government.

“A Chinese company that intends to set up a 50MW wind power unit has recently opened a workshop in the same area for manufacturing towers of wind turbines. Nine firms have completed their feasibility studies, seven are awaiting land allocation while feasibility studies of at least seven firms are under process. Letters of intent have been issued to nine other companies,” he said.

Under an agreement with the government, the firms had to transfer/sell electricity to the national grid on a fixed rate, he said.