Our Correspondent
KARACHI: A USA-based technology company and a Pakistani industrial group have entered into a formal partnership to start for the first-time manufacturing of supercapacitor energy storage systems in Pakistan to promote usage of renewable electricity.
A ceremony was held here at a hotel for the signing of a joint venture (JV) agreement between Ghani Global Holdings Limited (GGL) and Kilowatt Labs Inc USA to build Pakistan’s first facility to locally produce supercapacitor battery storage products. The manufacturing facility will be built at Allama Iqbal Industrial City in Faisalabad.
Speaking on the occasion, GGL CEO, Atique Ahmed Khan, said that indigenous production of supercapacitor batteries would go a long way to ensure the provision of renewable electricity at cheaper rates for the promotion of industrial and commercial activities in the country.
He said that businesses would be able to save a lot on their energy spending with the availability of the most efficient and long-duration battery storage systems.
He said that the launching of the joint venture would attract more foreign investment in the energy sector of Pakistan.
Khan told the audience of the ceremony that enhanced energy storage in the form of a supercapacitor was needed to promote the usage of clean electricity in Pakistan.
He said the power distribution companies in Pakistan were under the obligation as per the law to build storage systems for 20 per cent of their electricity in their system to be used in case of blackout due to fault in power systems or after a natural calamity.
GGL chief said that modern battery products would enable the Pakistani power utilizes to build such storage systems for the resumption of electricity in the case of a blackout.
He said the joint venture agreement had been signed to build such a second manufacturing facility in the world.
Kilowatt Labs CEO, Waseem Ashraf Qureshi, said the JV agreement signing ceremony was a monumental event and marked the beginning of a new era in Pakistan’s energy sector.
He said that his R&D company had entered into the latest business partnership to build one of the largest manufacturing facilities in the world for producing modern energy storage products.
He said the supercapacitor batteries to be produced in Pakistan could easily be exported to 43 countries where the energy products and services of his company were already available.
He said the modern batteries if connected to the diesel-run electricity generators could save up to 53 per cent of the fuel cost required for power production.
Qureshi said the modern batteries to be produced in Pakistan would have a much longer life and would last up to 45 years while these energy solutions were also suitable for harsh weather conditions.
He said the JV arrangement would also locally produce batteries and charging stations for electric vehicles.
The Kilowatt chief informed the audience that he had started his work as an electronic hobbyist in Karachi while in 1984 he had introduced the country’s first UPS system.
He said that two companies in accordance with the JV agreement would do their best that the new manufacturing facility in Faisalabad’s industrial estate would start its work in the shortest possible time.
Aqeel Karim Dhedhi Chairman of AKD Group, said that the signing of the latest JV agreement had proved that Pakistan’s business environment was most suitable for attracting foreign investment in the energy sector.
John Coronado, Counsellor for Commercial Affairs in US Embassy in Islamabad, said that his office would fully back such joint ventures between American and Pakistani businesses in the energy sector in the best interest of Pakistani power consumers.