Ground breaking ceremony for 'Establishment of Pak-Korea Testing Laboratory" held.

ISLAMABAD -- The ground breaking ceremony of 'Pak-Korea Testing Laboratory for PV-Modules and Allied Equipment" being established by the Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy technologies (PCRET) and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) was held at a local hotel on Friday.

Federal Secretary for Science and Technology, Mr. Ghulam Muhammad Memon was chief guest on the occasion. While Ambassador of Republic of Korea, Mr. Sangpyo Suh and Director General PCRET, Dr. Syed Atta-ur-Rehman were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, the federal secretary said that the bilateral cooperation between the two nations reflects that our all-weather strategic partnership is developing by leaps and bounds.

'Over the last 40 years, our friendship has withstood the test of time and become good example of nation to nation relations', he said.

He appreciated the cooperation between Pakistan council of Renewable Energy Technologies (PCRET) and KOICA in the field of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) testing as per international standards.

He said that Pakistan being a sun belt country has great potential of solar photovoltaics, specially due to the fact that this wide spread country is a laterally developed country.

The rooftop mounted PV systems connected with the local grid through net metering can significantly alter the pi-charts of our power generation and consumption patterns.

The power generated through solar photovoltaic offers the lowest cost of the power generation while the hydel source is highly capital intensive.

The federal secretary mentioned that the government announced a new alternative renewable energy (ARE) policy 2019 in October 2020.

The policy aims at creating a conducive environment supported by robust framework for sustainable growth of ARE sector in Pakistan.

The government's strategic objectives of energy security, affordability of electricity, availability for all, environmental protection, sustainable development, social equity and mitigation of climate change will further be harnessed under the ARE policy 2019, Ghulam Memon said.

The policy is target oriented and sets a target of achieving 20% on-grid capacity from ARE technologies by 2025 and 30% capacity by 2030. Establishment of this PAK-KOREA PV testing laboratory will play its significant role in introducing a quality control mechanism of solar panels in the country and will help to achieve our set targets in this sector in a more reliable and sustainable...