PESHAWAR—Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is close to finishing its solar mini grids in the former tribal districts, and the provincial government wants them running without further delay.
Osman Saifullah Khan, adviser to the chief minister on energy and power, planning and development, and science and information technology, chaired a high-level meeting in Peshawar on the pilot project. Energy secretary Muhammad Zubair and Engineer Anwar ul Haq, chief executive of the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (PEDO), joined him, along with other senior officials.
What the pilot delivers
The pilot installs 13 solar mini grids across the merged districts and moves 300 mosques and places of worship onto solar power. PEDO is delivering it under the Annual Development Programme. Engineers designed each grid with 175 kilowatts of solar panels, a 150-kilowatt inverter, 200 kilowatt-hours of battery storage and 11kV transmission infrastructure. Overall physical progress now stands at 98 per cent.
The money has shifted along the way. The government first approved Rs896.041 million, but a second revised PC-1, cleared on 22 November 2023, brought the figure down to Rs673.253 million. Of that sum, Rs490.20 million is earmarked for the mini grids. The project must wrap up, including its defects liability period, by 30 June 2027.
Khan sets the pace
Khan did not hide his impatience. He told officials to finish handing over sites to district administrations quickly and to clear every technical obstacle without delay. He also ordered them to commission all sites and complete the remaining work as a priority.
His goal is simple. Traders in the merged districts’ commercial centres should get uninterrupted, affordable electricity, and the solar mini grids are the way to deliver it. If officials meet his deadline, shopkeepers who have long relied on costly and unreliable supply could soon see the difference at the switch.
