Conergy big in Pakistan
June 4, 2012
German solar firm Conergy has signed a contract with Pakistan to help build a huge solar farm in the Asian country, the Hamburg-based company announced on Monday.
Together with project developer Ensunt of Canada, Conergy was commissioned by Pakistan's DACC Power Generation Company (DPGCL) to put up a 50-megawatt solar power station, which will be the biggest across that country.
The German firm was tasked with delivering 210,000 solar modules for the plant in Punjab province which are to generate 78 GW hours of energy annually, thus providing electricity to 30,500 households in the region.
Boosting energy security
The project is scheduled to start this fall. It will be finished in mid-2014, if everything goes according to plan.
"This project is a milestone for Conergy," Executive Board Member Marc Lohoff said in a statement on Monday. "It shows that we are well positioned in Asian growth markets."
DPGCL president Doug Melvin said the mega project would help to reduce the number of blackouts Pakistan has been grappled with in the past. "[The Pakistani government] has been working to avoid such blackouts by relying more on clean energy and developing the country's economy in a sustainable way," Melvin added.
The potential for solar energy is huge in Pakistan. Expanding its use will help people in rural areas get greater access to reliable sources of energy. At the moment, only 63 percent of the total population has electricity in their homes.
hg/gsw (dapd, Reuters)