NEPRA

Amid fierce public opposition, Pakistan’s National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has decided not to proceed with proposed amendments to its 2015 net-metering regulations. Nepra originally planned to reduce the tariff paid to net-metered households from PKR 19.32 ($0.072)/kWh to PKR 9/kWh.

Pakistan’s National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has concluded a public consultation on a proposed amendment to 2015 regulations for distributed generation and net metering. It will raise the price paid by net-metered households to inject excess electricity into the grid from PKR 19.32 ($0.089)/kWh to PKR 9/kWh.

A consultation about raising the level of payments made for excess household electricity injected into the grid appears to have prompted fears it could raise solar power prices across the board.

The World Bank has advised the Pakistani government to make an immediate start on solar and wind auctions based on big, dual technology clean power parks, plus smaller tenders likely to be dominated by PV.

Solar and wind are expected to account for a growing share of the electricity mix in the years ahead, rising from around 3% at present to 23% by 2030. Over the following two decades after that, however, this share will likely remain unchanged, as the national regulator expects the country to deploy more coal-fired generation capacity.

The country is steadily expanding solar generation capacity as it aims for 5 GW by 2022, helped by an influx of foreign investment from China’s Belt & Road infrastructure program and World Bank capital.

One 15 MW project will see the installation of high power mono bifacial modules – no small feat for any market. Other projects will be collocated with the country’s industry to improve security of supply, as load shedding occurs for several hours each day.

Pakistani regulator NEPRA is considering a tariff for a 49.5 MW site in the Khyber district. At the same time, the country’s armed forces are eyeing PV deployment for their operations.

Roughly 956.8 MW of solar capacity is now under development at 28 locations in Pakistan under the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB), with 556.5 MW set for completion by the end of 2018.