According to reports, the government will start those power projects under the government-to-government arrangement that are listed under federal government’s international (bilateral or multilateral) commitments once the project financing agreements have been signed.
The second category includes those projects that have obtained Letter of Support (LOS) as of December 2020 for private sector projects. The federal government public sector projects for which the PC-I has been approved and funding secured as of March 2021 are a part of the third category.
Jamshoro Unit-2 and Chashma-5 Nuclear plant project shall be put forward as candidate projects to be evaluated under least cost principle.
The Power Division has been asked to present a case to the government regarding the list of projects categorised as ‘strategic’ within one month.
According to officials, the prioritised list of projects on the principle of least cost of energy would be determined by using the IGCEP 2047. These projects on the ideal least cost scenario fall in the following broad categories; projects that have achieved letter of support and are required to fulfil COD deadlines, projects that have specific timelines under G2G/multilateral arrangements.
Projects that don’t have specifically stipulated timelines for completion under government-to-government agreements would get their completion date based on the cost of energy from such projects.
The Power Division has also obtained the government’s approval for the summary titled ‘Approval of Assumption Inputs for the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP)’.
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The Power Division will also seek advice from the Law and Justice Division on whether the letter of intent (LoI) issued to category III renewable energy projects are binding for the federal government to allow these projects to proceed forward or otherwise on the technology and/or power quantum indicated in the respective Lols.
The current IGCEP iteration for renewable energy projects will be done under existing targets as per ARE Policy 2019, according to least cost principle.
The government has decided that renewable energy on-grid power projects in balance target block share as stipulated in the ARE Policy 2019 ie, 20% by year 2025 and 30% by year 2030 (including net-metering), candidate block will be considered on respective wind/solar/hybrid technologies from the year 2023-24 onwards on least cost principle.
The government will have to revise RE Policy 2019 keeping these amendments in mind.