The government plans to more than halve the buyback tariffs for net-metered solar power to save Rs4.3 trillion ($15.1 billion) over the next ten years, according to people privy to the matter.
Authorities at energy ministry are working on a new solar policy that looks to change the current net-metering regime under which the cash-strapped government is buying back solar-generated electricity from domestic, commercial and industrial producers at Rs27 per kilowatt hour (kWh).
The buyback rates for large scale grid-connected solar plants like Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power (Pvt.) Limited, Pakistan’s first 100-megawatt solar utility set up by Punjab government, ranges between Rs9 and Rs11.
“The government is proposing to remove this anomaly and offer almost a uniform buyback rate for net-metered solar power in line with global standard practice,” said a Pakistani energy ministry official who is privy to the policymaking discussions but cannot share them with media.
He said officials at the ministry’s power division will present a revised solar policy to the federal cabinet “within a month,” proposing to reduce the buyback price for net-metered solar power by more than 60 percent to Rs10 per kWh.
The government plans to link the buyback rates with the national base tariff.