Govt signs MoU with UAE firm to build solar power plant
- Date of Publication : 12/08/2020 at 09:13 GMT
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a solar power plant has been signed between the government of Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates-based PAL 4 Solar Energy LLC.
The office of the presidency said Tuesday in a statement that the project would be implemented across the country.
The MoU was signed by Mohammad Zafar, managing director of the solar power company, Ataullah Nasib, head of the Investment Facilitation Unit of the Office of the President, and Ahmad Daud Noorzai the CEO of Afghanistan’s power company, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), in the presence of Kabir Isakhel, Chief Legal Advisor for President Ashraf Ghani.
Once complete, the project will provide the opportunity for Afghanistan to generate up to 3,000 MW of electricity across the country.
The agreement was signed at the Afghan Embassy in Abu Dhabi, in the UAE.
According to the agreement, the UAE company will invest in the installation of solar panel plants which will produce electricity.
Currently, Afghanistan has three solar power plants – in Bamiyan, Herat, and Kandahar provinces.
The Kandahar Solar Power plant worth $39 million generates 30 megawatts of electricity. The solar power plant installed in Bamiyan provides electricity to thousands of Bamiyan families.
The renewable energy resource potential of Afghanistan is estimated at over 300,000 MW, the Ministry of Energy and Water has stated in the past.
This includes natural gas, biomass, hydropower, solar, and wind power.
Major progress has however been made in the past decade by Afghanistan, along with private investors, to turn the land-locked nation into a self-sustainable energy-producing country as a significant amount of electricity is still imported from neighboring countries.
In 2017, a report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) stated that Afghanistan has the potential to produce 67,000 megawatts of electricity from wind energy, 220,000 megawatts electricity from solar energy, 4,000 megawatts of clean energy from biomass and 23,000 megawatts of electricity from water resources annually.
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