ISLAMABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir mountainous region has great potential to produce inexpensive electricity by converting decades-old watermills into electricity generators which will help energize local population.
One entrepreneur in a small village in Kashmir region has a much simpler, low-cost solution that could help many in this mountainous areas, reported Voice of America.
Ashiq Hussain Kazmi who owned a watermill, locally known as “jandar,” said that 3.5-kilowatt turbine could easily energized eight houses.
He said that TVs, one refrigerator could also be run on the power being generated from this generator besides charging cell phones.
Kazmi said that there were hundreds of watermills in Azad Kashmir but mostly the owners could not afford to convert them into power generators.
He said if assistance was provided for placing 7.5 kilowatts generators, they could supply electricity to not only to the entire village but also to the neighboring area.
According to the report, Kazmi told the mill needed a major overhaul as it was very old and also damaged after the October 2005 earthquake and he successfully managed to convert it into an electricity generator.
Regional Planning chief Mansoor Qadir Dar said the government is now looking into providing funds for such projects.
The watermill owners could send their proposals regarding mills for seeking any technical and financial support, he said and added “we will give them that financial support and we have also funds earmarked for this particular facility.
The VOA further report said that the PML-N government has also vowed to resolve the electricity crisis by 2018, when several proposed energy mega-projects will be completed and begin adding thousands of new megawatts of power to the national grid.
Pakistan faces an annual electricity shortfall of around 4,500 megawatts in the peak summer months of June and July.
Last month, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated a 100-megawatt Chinese-built solar power plant in central Cholistan desert in Punjab that will eventually add 1,000 megawatts to the national grid over the next two years to make it one of the world’s biggest solar parks, according to officials.
Pakistan and China have also recently unveiled a $46-billion investment plan formally known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Both countries signed investment agreements earlier this year when the Chinese president visited Islamabad to promote various gas, coal and solar energy projects that will generate thousands of megawatts of power over the next few years.
The VOA reported,”Nearly $34 billion are envisaged for investment in the energy sector,” said Tariq Fatemi, the prime minister’s special assistant on foreign policy. “We expect 10,400MWs to be added to the national grid in the next three years,” he said
