Image: Chirayu, Trivedi, Unsplash
China’s Hebei Juhang Energy Technology Group Co., Ltd. plans to set up a large-scale solar panel manufacturing plant in Pakistan.
A delegation from the company, led by Chairman Wang Jianbin and representatives of the China-Pakistan Business Forum, met with Pakistan’s Federal Minister for the Board of Investment (BOI), Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh and other BOI board members last week.
According to a statement published by Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Chinese delegation proposed to develop the panel factory to tap both domestic demand and export potential in Pakistan, while “expressing keen interest in investing billions of dollars in Pakistan’s solar energy and related high-tech sectors.”
The BOI welcomed the proposal and informed the delegation that the Pakistani government is ready to allocate 6,000 acres of land for investment purposes. The report also advised on Pakistan’s special economic zones, which offer incentives to investors including zero income tax for the first ten years.
Minister Sheikh then called for accelerated preparation of feasibility studies and joint venture agreements regarding the proposal.
Pakistan’s solar market has witnessed a significant increase in solar panel imports in recent times, with a total of 16 GW of panel imports in the country’s fiscal year 2024, an increase of 227% from the previous year.
A report published by Islamabad-based think tank Renewables First found in June that Pakistan has imported a total of 36 GW of Chinese solar panels, equivalent to 78% of its total power generation capacity at the time.
Pakistan added 1.2 GW of net metering capacity in the first half of the year, bringing the cumulative capacity to 6.1 GW.
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