The World Bank in collaboration with along with the Alternative Energy Development Board(AEDB) deployed a series of state of the art solar maps for Pakistan to support and encourage the deployment of renewable energy in the country. Because of this initiative Pakistan has become the first country to benefit from validated solar maps under a global initiative on renewable energy resource mapping, led by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program – a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank.
The World Bank stated this initiative will help investors make more informed project decisions and that Pakistan has joined a small group of mainly developed countries, having access to duly validated and high-quality solar energy maps available for planning and prospecting purposes,” this project initiated by the world bank also includes solar mapping in Pakistan and includes field data, which is being generated by nine solar measurement stations installed two years ago throughout the country.
These maps will help harness renewable energy from all the provinces and improve access to bankable data. Amjad Ali Awan, the chief executive officer of AEDB said that “These new solar maps will definitely ensure qualified improvement vis-a-vis previous studies and will underscore the tremendous solar potential that exists across Pakistan,”
Anthony Cholst, Acting Country Director for the World Bank, Pakistan also said “With the costs of solar power having decreased significantly over the past couple of years, Pakistan now has the opportunity to unleash investment in solar energy without the need for subsidies,”The solar maps, and the underlying solar data, can be accessed for free via the Global Solar Atlas, a recently-launched tool provided by the World Bank Group and covering all countries. These maps are also available in Digital Format for use in Geographic Information System (GIS) applications and Google Earth.
