Saudi Arabia Will Invest $4 Billion In Solar Projects In Balochistan

[JohnWick]

Cheap production-may be, cheap selling- no. Otherwise we are looking at further addition to circular debt for no reason. We are already above 1400 B plus in circular debt.

Offtake would require connection with grid which means additional financing.

For now no use discussing it as no money is being committed in actuality.

Solar grid station with Chinese Engineering might work....

 

[AsifIjaz]

Just near gawadar is the best place in pakistan for wind power plants... Better invest in that or a hybrid of both

 

[JohnWick]

Just near gawadar is the best place in pakistan for wind power plants... Better invest in that or a hybrid of both

Solar will be the best according to the desert environment of Blochistan....

 

[AsifIjaz]

Based upon the wind speed the corridor near gawader has better potential than the sindh corridor at jhimpir or thatta.
Hence a comparatively reliable option wud be solar plus wind.. U get almost 24/7 energy with solar chipping in during office timings

 

[Zulfiqar]

Solar grid station with Chinese Engineering might work....

Frankly speaking there is a difference between the work ethics of Chinese working on private projects here and those who work with us on defence projects.

Better to do feasibility and stick with reliable players.

Just near gawadar is the best place in pakistan for wind power plants... Better invest in that or a hybrid of both

Gawadar has no water and needs desalination plants. The authorities there will now ask every future housing society to arrange own desalination plant (according to a guy bidding for installing a plant there).

These plants require a lot of energy and wind/solar don't have the consistency or the necessary capacity/plant factor to meet that requirement on large scale.

In future we will be needing a lot of consistently available energy to not only power the city but also provide fresh water by desalination.

 

[313ghazi]

I would like this money to be spent on a factory manufacturing solar plants in Pakistan, rather than a ready made field. Even if the factory is Saudi owned, the skillset, the supply chain, the support industries will be Pakistani. Big solar projects have their place, but this is the right move for us.

How electricity can be provided in the middle of a no-where desert ?

I have big plans around that. Micro projects. In rural communities, rather than rely on big infrastructure projects and connecting them up the main grid - they can get immediate energy through the use of renewables setup locally to them, based on their geography.

For example, setup a solar panel on the top of each house, or a small solar field near a few villages, if there is flowing water nearby maybe run of the river generators, or a few windmills. Link the community upto that power source - hire and train local people to maintain them. Have mobile teams of engineers for repairs/more complex work.

Eventually all these people should be linked up to the national grid, but rather than wait to setup 100's of km's worth of infrastructure - set them up locally.

 

[AsifIjaz]

Frankly speaking there is a difference between the work ethics of Chinese working on private projects here and those who work with us on defence projects.

Better to do feasibility and stick with reliable players.



Gawadar has no water and needs desalination plants. The authorities there will now ask every future housing society to arrange own desalination plant (according to a guy bidding for installing a plant there).

These plants require a lot of energy and wind/solar don't have the consistency or the necessary capacity/plant factor to meet that requirement on large scale.

In future we will be needing a lot of consistently available energy to not only power the city but also provide fresh water by desalination.

well a hybrid of solar and wind would be the best and more reliable option amongst all other renewables. You have to understand that gawader is not connected to the national grid thus the issue at hand. This is probably the sole reason the coal power plant of 300mw being constructed at gawader is not of ultra super critical or super critical technology but of sub-criticial technology. Now compared to the former options this is going to be very very very hazardous for the enviornment.
Gawader has no water or reliable water resource, as rightly mentioned by yourself. The options available thus range from Thermal to Coal to finally nuclear power plants which again would need 3 to 6 years to be made operational. Amongst these the best option at hand is nuclear provided the seismologist agree on this. Any power plant would also need more security around the area and bringing private set ups into the mix would be beneficial operationally as well as from a social uplift point of view. We need jobs in makran cost in general and awaran district in particular as it was worst hit by makran coastal highway and thus is most prone area to propaganda.

keeping the above in mind the best option would still be
1- Supplement the acute need with a urgent connection with Hub not too far away. A link can be established in a year to 18 months at max. From there even gradual up scaling power supply of from 1 to 9 hundred mw would be sufficient till we get the industries and residential complexes up and running. Mind you with the 2 KANPPs coming up in 2021 in karachi the hub power would need to directed to NTDC network or to elsewhere and gawader is a good option.

2- Utilizing the wind corridor - thus providing employment to the locals, albeit low level ones as technical resource would be scarce. This would also bring private security set ups and security guards / watchmen thus providing more local jobs where they are non existent thus indirectly making it less prone to propaganda.

3- Make it hybrid set ups i.e. Solar. There is wind and with no scarcity of land a hybrid set up is most feasible. Would take least time to set up.

4- indigenous coal based power plants of ultra critical or super critical technology utilizing the coal coming from coal mines in balochistan

5- Nuclear power plants. next 1100 mw plant should be in this area. Start planning now and even if we start around 2021 even then we are looking at 2025-26 commission which should hopefully coincide or follow with the economic and population boon there.

 

[Zulfiqar]

I would like this money to be spent on a factory manufacturing solar plants in Pakistan, rather than a ready made field. Even if the factory is Saudi owned, the skillset, the supply chain, the support industries will be Pakistani. Big solar projects have their place, but this is the right move for us.



I have big plans around that. Micro projects. In rural communities, rather than rely on big infrastructure projects and connecting them up the main grid - they can get immediate energy through the use of renewables setup locally to them, based on their geography.

For example, setup a solar panel on the top of each house, or a small solar field near a few villages, if there is flowing water nearby maybe run of the river generators, or a few windmills. Link the community upto that power source - hire and train local people to maintain them. Have mobile teams of engineers for repairs/more complex work.

Eventually all these people should be linked up to the national grid, but rather than wait to setup 100's of km's worth of infrastructure - set them up locally.

I also agree that it would be wiser to establish the complete supply chain here. It will help us in long term. Just look at india and how they brought down the tariff cost via local production.


There are few companies that are providing solar panel energy solutions for houses (apart from wholesale dealers of solar panels). I forgot the name but there is a company in lahore (that also obtained financing from the bank that I worked for) that provided such retail solutions.

well a hybrid of solar and wind would be the best and more reliable option amongst all other renewables. You have to understand that gawader is not connected to the national grid thus the issue at hand. This is probably the sole reason the coal power plant of 300mw being constructed at gawader is not of ultra super critical or super critical technology but of sub-criticial technology. Now compared to the former options this is going to be very very very hazardous for the environment.
Gawader has no water or reliable water resource, as rightly mentioned by yourself. The options available thus range from Thermal to Coal to finally nuclear power plants which again would need 3 to 6 years to be made operational. Amongst these the best option at hand is nuclear provided the seismologist agree on this. Any power plant would also need more security around the area and bringing private set ups into the mix would be beneficial operationally as well as from a social uplift point of view. We need jobs in makran cost in general and awaran district in particular as it was worst hit by makran coastal highway and thus is most prone area to propaganda.

keeping the above in mind the best option would still be
1- Supplement the acute need with a urgent connection with Hub not too far away. A link can be established in a year to 18 months at max. From there even gradual up scaling power supply of from 1 to 9 hundred mw would be sufficient till we get the industries and residential complexes up and running. Mind you with the 2 KANPPs coming up in 2021 in karachi the hub power would need to directed to NTDC network or to elsewhere and gawader is a good option.

2- Utilizing the wind corridor - thus providing employment to the locals, albeit low level ones as technical resource would be scarce. This would also bring private security set ups and security guards / watchmen thus providing more local jobs where they are non existent thus indirectly making it less prone to propaganda.

3- Make it hybrid set ups i.e. Solar. There is wind and with no scarcity of land a hybrid set up is most feasible. Would take least time to set up.

4- indigenous coal based power plants of ultra critical or super critical technology utilizing the coal coming from coal mines in balochistan

5- Nuclear power plants. next 1100 mw plant should be in this area. Start planning now and even if we start around 2021 even then we are looking at 2025-26 commission which should hopefully coincide or follow with the economic and population boon there.

As much as I want pakistan to work on nuclear power plants, I think that these should be constructed far away from the city. Too much investment is at stake here for it to be blown up by a black swan event.

Hybrid renewable solutions are good due to less time to achieve COD. They should be backed up with Coal and LNG (preferably combined cycle) to provide optimum output. However, increased security would be needed to make the investments realize maximum returns.

Increased investment is also needed in NTDC network for maximum offtake. Maximum proportion of local labor should be used in order to mitigate local population's grievances.

 

[Kaleem.61]

I may be wrong but:
Baluchistan is hotter as compared to other Provinces. Taking a look on how India is installing solar panels in it's areas (on canals). It was a very good step.

I just want to say they must do something to overcome heat and reduce maintenance cost.
It is my own experience that if you are not serious in cooling the panels then you can't get smoother outcome.

It's cool!

 

[Syed1.]

I may be wrong but:
Baluchistan is hotter as compared to other Provinces. Taking a look on how India is installing solar panels in it's areas (on canals). It was a very good step.

I just want to say they must do something to overcome heat and reduce maintenance cost.
It is my own experience that if you are not serious in cooling the panels then you can't get smoother outcome.View attachment 566812

It's cool!

Yes you are correct... power output from solar panel decreases as its temperature rises.