The Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA) conducted a road show in Bangkok to attract international bidders for its groundbreaking 300-megawatt (MW) floating solar project, marking the first of its kind in Pakistan.
The initiative aims to leverage floating solar panels on two reservoirs within the Tarbela-Ghazi Barotha hydropower complex, contributing clean and cost-effective electricity to the national grid.
Attended by 58 delegates from 50 international firms, the road show featured presentations by WAPDA officials and consultants, detailing the financial, technical, and bidding aspects of the project.
Bidding documents were released in October 2023 following World Bank procurement guidelines, with a submission deadline set for March 12, 2024.
The World Bank has signaled interest in providing 95 percent financing for the approximately $300 million project.
Notable attendees at the event included Chairman WAPDA Engr (retd) Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani, Pakistan’s Charge d’ Affairs in Thailand Yasir Hussain, World Bank representatives, and WAPDA high-ranking officials.
Chairman Ghani underscored the lucrative business opportunities for contracting firms through a transparent international competitive bidding process.
He highlighted WAPDA’s robust asset base and extensive professional expertise in implementing mega projects in the water and power sectors, expressing eagerness to collaborate with renowned firms for the success of Pakistan’s maiden floating solar project.
WAPDA’s 300 MW-floating solar project envisions clean energy generation at the Tarbela-Ghazi Barotha Complex through innovative floating solar and hydropower hybrid operations.
The initiative involves deploying two 150 MW floating solar plants, strategically located on Ghazi Head Pond at Tarbela Complex and North Pond at Ghazi-Barotha Complex.
These plants will be connected to the Switch Yards of Tarbela and Ghazi-Barotha Hydel Power Stations, supplying 484 million units of low-cost electricity to the national grid annually.
The road show facilitated an exchange of information between WAPDA officials, consultants, and potential bidders, addressing queries during the question-and-answer session.
Â
Solar energy is new power energy for new era. WAPDA is working advance to cover power crisis
Excellent initiative. This should be honestly accomplished and political point scoring should be avoided.
once again a project based on dollar. continuous bleeding of Dollar by capacity payments and profits in dollars 💰.
It is better to use rooftops by giving interest free loans or work with local investors in PKR instead of global partnerships. we need no any foreign venture based on dollar
Roof top solar panels are not purchased by bleeding forex ? No need to give any loans to a nation where people can buy cars worth 10 to 20 million rupees in 10s of thousands but only 1% of the total population pays income tax.
Duties and GST have already been reduced or done away with on solar panels.
from view of foreign investment, hope this project will be beneficial for Pakistan playing a role in foreign exchange, employment. with foreign relations also boosts internal economy.
O no, no, no. Please stop WAPDA from doing anything of this sort. An organizations known for extreme inefficiency, lethargy and corruption should not be tasked to do such things. WAPDA employees as those of DISCOs consume billions of rupees worth of free electricity running into millions of units. This body has kept the nation in the dark for several decades. It deserves no good words nor any sympathy.