The Punjab government has claimed that the 100 MW Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power Park (QASPP) located in Bahawalpur is generating more than 80 MW of electricity at an 80 percent efficiency rate. The claim is ambiguous as well as misleading because any engineer can prove this claim wrong after simple calculation.The production capacity of a power plant is described in terms of actual production. According to the Punjab government’s claim, the QASPP produces 80 MW from the 100 MW plant in one hour. But in reality, the QASPP power plant generates 80 MW in one day’s operation, that is nine hours sunshine per day, for which total capacity is 900 MW, and calculated efficiency is 8.88 percent only. It should also be highlighted that the world’s most efficient solar PV power plant’s efficiency is less than 19 percent and the QASPP cannot exceed that efficiency.To clear the ambiguity and confusion, the Punjab government should request the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) to analyse the project and calculate the actual efficiency. The PEC has the technical knowledge and authority to calculate the efficiency on actual data within a few hours. In fact any engineer can do that if actual data of production of the QASPP is uploaded on the website.The second claim of the Punjab government regarding the equal cost of solar and hydro power plants is also misleading, as a hydro power plant has longer production life, 50 plus years, while solar PV power plants have low production years, around 15-20 years, and they cannot be compared as being the same.
Muhammad Baseer Khan
pk.shafaqna.com
