Consultative workshop on ‘Utility Scale Renewable Energy Transformations’

Islamabad, July 27, 2022: ACJCE member Policy Research Institute for Equitable Development (PRIED) organized a consultative session with the relevant stakeholders on utility-scale renewable energy (RE) transformations, with the aim to identify barriers and discuss viable strategies to overcome those barriers for utility-scale RE transformations.

The session was attended by around 20 people. Key stakeholders from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), Women in Energy, Renewables First, National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), legal and technical advisors participated in the consultation.

The aim of the discussion was to explore the potential of RE transition in Pakistan and its barriers and blockers. The discussion also focused on understanding viable strategies and actions for capturing opportunities for RE uptake and removal of all forms of barriers.

During the session, the relevant stakeholders in energy transition identified the potential measures to foster an accelerated transition towards solar and wind. They also discussed the need to enhance stakeholders’ coordination to take forward collective efforts for advancing solar and wind uptake. The responses of all the stakeholders in the discussion will be consolidated in a situation brief report, which will be issued in the coming weeks.

The consultative session was moderated by Rida Fatima, Researcher at PRIED. The key speakers included Dr. Irfan Yousaf, consultant at NEPRA, Engr Assad Mehmood, energy specialist and technical consultant, Ameena Sohail, legal consultant and board member of IPS and IESCO, Zeeshan Ashfaq, managing director Pakistan at SOWITEC, Sadia Qayyum, energy specialist at World Bank, and Dr. Ali Abbas Kazmi, assistant professor at NUST.