Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park
Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park قائدِ اعظم سولر پارک | |
---|---|
Official name | Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park |
Country | Pakistan |
Location | Bahawalpur, Punjab |
Coordinates | 29°26′55″N 71°58′22″E / 29.44861°N 71.97278°E |
Status | Operational |
Commission date | Phase 1: 15 July 2015 Phase 2: 31 May 2016 Phase 3: 31 July 2016 Phase 4: 31 July 2016 |
Construction cost | Phase 1: US$131.15 Million Phase 2: US$159.82 million Phase 3: US$135.89 million Phase 4: US$159.82 million |
Owner(s) | Government of Punjab |
Operator(s) | QA Solar |
Solar farm | |
Type | Flat-panel PV |
Total collector area | 8 km sq. |
Site resource | 1920 kWh/m2/yr |
Site area | 6,500 acres (2,600 ha)[1] |
Power generation | |
Units operational | Phase 1: 100 MW Phase 2: 100 MW Phase 3: 100 MW Phase 4: 100 MW |
Make and model | JA Solar |
Nameplate capacity | 400 MW (Operational) 1,000 MW (Total planned) |
External links | |
Website | qasolar.com |
Commons | Related media on Commons |
The Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park (
Background and operation
History
The project of solar powered park was approved by Government of Punjab, Pakistan on August, 2013.[4] In Sept 2013, Govt of Punjab signed an MOU with TBEA SunOasis of China to set up a 1000MWp solar power plant. This led to the establishment of the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park site near Bahawalpur. In late 2013, the Canadian Solar Company, also signed an MOU with Punjab government, for setting up 500 MW solar powered park as an investor with $175 Million. However, Canadian Solar did not pursue this investment option.[5] Government of Punjab decided to initially establish a 100 MW pilot project (Phase-1) before proceeding with the 1,000 MW complete capacity at QA Solar Park, Bahawalpur. Tender was floated at the end of December 2013. After competitive bidding with six bidders, the contract of Phase-1 construction, 100MWp project, was awarded to the lowest qualified bidder TBEA Xinjiang SunOasis Co. Ltd. of China[6] at an EPC contract price of $131.15 million and a 25-year maintenance contract of around $73 million, a total of $215 million. The Letter of Acceptance was issued on April 4, 2014, but the actual EPC and O&M contract was signed on June 2, 2014.
The 100 MW project was completed within the scheduled nine months as per the contract and was commissioned at the end of March 2015 Not only was the construction and commissioning of the project completed within the contractual period, there were no cost over-runs either. The total cost remained within the contract price of $131.15 with no extensions in cost or time.
Technical details of Phase-1 (100 MW project)
Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park is located in the desert area of Lal Sohanra,
The initial project plan was to build 1000 MWp across three phases of construction. The first phase of project 100 MWp was installed over an area of 500 acres. The PV area has 392,158 solar modules of 255 Wp each, nearly 10,000 solar arrays of 40 modules each, 1,400 combiner boxes, 100 centralized inverters of 1 MW each, 100 transformers of 1 MVA each at 33kV, all of these linked through a network of thousands of kilometers of cables. The arrays are fixed to the ground using 140,000 screw piles. There is no concrete foundation. The EPC contract included provision of a 132kV substation which includes 2 transformers of 100 MVA each at 132 kV. The substation area also includes 100MVA switch gear and VAR protection along with a state of the art DCS and SCADA control system. The 132KV electrical output of the power plant is connected to the NTDC national grid via a 132kV transmission line that runs through the Solar Park.[12] Phase-1 construction was conducted by Xinjiang SunOasis over the course of three months.[13]
Phase-II construction plans
The second phase of project started in September 2015 by issuance of a letter of Intent (LOI) to
Despite all the litigation, a $1.5 billion contract was awarded to Zonergy Company Ltd for 900 MW project to be completed in Phase 2 (up to 300 MW) and Phase 3 (up to 900 MW) with the aim of approaching planned 1000 MW. However, Zonergy Company Ltd. was unable to complete any targets amid different problems and the project was not able to exceed the Phase-1 100 MW installation.
Xinjiang SunOasis continued to provide materials to complete Phase-II construction. Phase II was marked as completed in August 2016 with an installed capacity of 400 MW.[21] However, it appears only 100 MW is being produced at this facility as of December 2021.[22]
Interest by Turkish companies
In January 2017, a Turkish company called Zorlu Enerji also showed interest to develop 100 MW project in 6 months at the 1000 MW QASP site.[23][24] In February 2018, Zorlu Enerji again showed their interest in similar venture; however, the project was not able to kick off for unknown reasons.[25]
Hurdles, conflicts and plans of privation
Operational hurdles
Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park was unable to produce affordable energy and expected output, due to several reasons:
- Bahawalpur is desert terrain, having high dust count, therefore, the efficiency of panels were reduced by 40%. It required 30 people to clean panels with 15 days to restore the panels back to their full capacity, which reduced production of installed 100MW plant to below 18 MW.[26][27]
- Each of the 400,000 installed panels required one litre of water to clean. A 15 days cleaning cycle required 124 million litres of water (enough to sustain 9000 people) while rain in the Cholistan desert is rare and far between. Providing such huge amount of water in desert terrain, became a challenging and daunting task for management team. Besides, the manual cleaning methods allowed setting of dust before it was re-cleaned.[27][26]
- The temperature of Bahawalpur rises above 45 degrees Celsius,[28] which is much higher than the 25 degrees Celsius required for efficient solar power production.[29][30]
- QASP produced too little power at too much cost, in fact it had the second highest per unit cost in Pakistan after the Nandipur Power Project. The upfront capital expenses (CAPEX) of $131.15 million ($1.31 million/MW) was very high like other solar projects; while unlike other solar plants it was unable to achieve balanced recurring operational expenses (OPEX) due to low power production of 18 MW against the expected 100 MW.[31]
Due to the aforementioned reasons, the project faced long-term operational hurdles and conflicts with the
Tariff conflicts with NEPRA
A MOU signed in July 2014 determined the tariff of Rs. 14 between Government of Punjab and China.[34] Based on this, NEPRA granted astonishingly high tariff of Rs. 14 to QASP Pvt. Ltd, while the rest of the world enjoyed solar tariff of less than Rs. 4.[35][36] For example, solar prices in India touched INR 2.42 with decrease in cost in solar production.[37] Though the interest rate in Pakistan is much lower than India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico etc. and Pakistan offers entire foreign equity and no taxes; but still it has the highest solar tariff in the world. NEPRA in September 2016 tried to reduced the tariff from Rs. 14.5 per unit to Rs 9.25 per unit, maintaining that cost of solar production had reduced sharply in the last 4 years and besides it is much lower in other parts of the world.[38] However, Zonergy threatened to withdraw from Phase-2 and Phase-3 of project, and asked the Chief Minister of Punjab to pressure NEPRA. After signaling to withdraw its commitment of 900 MW extension, she went into litigation over the matter.[39][40] Finally, the scores were settled attributing subsidy contributed by Ministry of Water and Power; however, it added to existing circular debt and the remaining was transferred to consumers. In February 2017 Ministry of Water and Power accepted that Rs.100 billion is paid each year as subsidy in the power sector while Rs. 200 billion is paid by consumers as various surcharges.[41] Nevertheless, several financial experts criticized the high solar tariff despite decrease in solar production costs. For example, Dr. Farrukh Saleem criticized the current Rs. 18 tariff of QASP and compared it with the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar in Madhya Pradesh (India), where the tariff is equivalent to Pakistani Rs. 5.19 only.[42] The high production costs of the project, ongoing tariff conflicts between both sides and long term maintenance costs impeded extension aims and future investments.[43]
Plans of privatisation
Initially planned to install 1,000 MW the project was later curtailed. The initial 100 MW plant was commissioned in May 2015,[44] and was completed by TBEA Xinjiang SunOasis Co. Ltd. It was decided in June 2017 to privatise the solar park,[45] due to 18 MW production against 100 MW capacity and its high maintenance costs. A major controversy broke in December 2017, when a company named Jahangir Siddiqui & Co Ltd (JSCL), owned by Ali Jehangir Siddiqui, the business partner and close friend of Sharif family, was pre-qualified to attain 100% equity stake in Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power (Private) Limited.[46] It was also feared that entire tax exception awarded to privatization of the project is done to facilitate Ali Jehangir Siddiqui.[47] Despite the criticism on awarding business partners for ownership of the project, Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. was invited in March 2018 to submit bid along with eight other companies.[48]
Although the bidding process was due to be completed in April 2018, the process was delayed
Controversies and criticism
Inefficient production at high cost
Quaid-e-Azam solar park produced too little and too expensive power. In spite of high upfront capital expenses (CAPEX) like other solar projects, it was unable to achieve balanced operating expenses (OPEX). With total of upfront $131.15 million ($1.31 million / MW) CAPEX it produced only 18 MW for installed 100 MW capacity.
Financial analyst Farrukh Saleem wrote that solar energy generated in Pakistan had amongst the highest per unit costs. Although the global cost of production for solar energy declined sharply between 2012 and 2017, contractors are paid large sums. As an example, QASP produced electricity at a cost of Rs. 19.83/kWh,[53] compared to Rs. 5.19/kWh for energy produced at Rewa Ultra Mega Solar in Madhya Pradesh, India.[42][54] This is despite a low tax rate and a liberal foreign equity repatriation regime in Pakistan in contrast to India.[55] According to Ministry of Water and Power the costs of the expensive tariff and the subsidies given to the project are borne by the consumers in the form of high surcharges.[41]
Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) Inquiry report
In March 2018 the Auditor General of Pakistan published a shocking report of serious irregularities in the award of procurements and construction (EPC) contracts and operation and maintenance (O&M) contracts:[51]
- The contractor with the lowest bid, M/S Chint, was not awarded the contract; instead it was given to TBEA without any plausible reason. This caused the national exchequer a loss of $19.345 million.
- Violations of procurements were found in 2017 against Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PEPRA) rules. It was revealed that subcontracts were awarded to companies with dubious profiles in non transparent ways.
- Mr. Rashid Majeed was a member of the technical and financial bid committee and favored TBEA. Later he managed to obtain EPC and O&M contracts triggering a conflict of interest. He also appointed himself as consultant Emeritus getting Rs. 82.737 million, in spite of him being a member of the Bank of Punjab, the lender of the Quaid-e-Azam solar park.
- Serious misuse of vehicles, bonuses, and allowances in services and site reallocations was found among several heads of the company. Even the appointments of CEO, consultants, and excess payments and perks availed during the non transparent processes.
- Excessive payments in Markups were paid, the letter of credit was opened in favour of the parent company, retention of equity funds in BOP and violation of several other procedures and regulations were observation during the course of investigations.
Environmental impact of the project
Quaid-e-Azam solar park is located in
During construction of the project trees worth 100 thousand of rupees were disposed at cheap rates in the dark to open market without any auctioning. Forest department officials said that Vachellia nilotica kikar trees worth 100 thousand of rupees were sold illegally to acquire the site.[56]
Probe of misappropriation/corruption
Chief Justice of Pakistan,
See also
- China–Pakistan Economic Corridor
- Energy Department (Punjab, Pakistan)
- List of power stations in Pakistan
- List of photovoltaic power stations
- List of dams and reservoirs in Pakistan
- Solar power in Pakistan
- Renewable energy in Pakistan
- Nandipur Power Project
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