Pakistan has sought support of Denmark for boosting the share of renewable energy to 40% in the next two years under the National Electricity Plan 2023.

In a meeting between Interim Minister of Energy Muhammad Ali and Danish Ambassador Jacob Linulf at the Power Division on Monday, the updates on the Danish Energy Transmission Initiative (DETI) were discussed.

The energy minister pointed out that the government of Pakistan had recently approved the National Electricity Plan 2023, which provided guidelines, implementation mechanisms and tools for the realisation of national policy goals for the power sector.

The plan envisages a 40% share for renewables, including hydroelectric power, in the country’s energy mix by 2025 and 60% by 2030.

Ali said that Denmark’s support based on its extensive expertise and experience would certainly be beneficial for Pakistan in the transition towards cleaner and greener energy mix and in meeting the climate change targets and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The energy minister noted that the world was making the much-needed transition towards clean energy in the wake of climate change, adding that Pakistan, being more vulnerable to the impact of climate change, needed to adapt and mitigate the impact of climate on the country.

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The minister discussed the possible plan to expand sustainable energy generation with particular focus on wind and solar resources.

“Power sector plays an important role in climate change mitigation and accordingly the government is giving top priority to a just energy transition,” he stressed, noting that the true success of transition was to have the real impact in the area of sustainable energy.

Ali stressed that Pakistan’s aim was to gradually reduce tariff and move towards utilisation of indigenous resources. He underlined the importance of drawing up a plan in collaboration with Denmark as the European nation had already completed its energy transition.

In the meeting, it was observed that DETI had two thematic areas, one being energy planning and modelling, and the other being the integration of renewable energy.

The agenda for the upcoming Conference of Parties (COP28) also came up for discussion.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2023.

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