World Bank says that Pakistan has now become the first country to benefit from the validated solar maps under a global initiative on renewable energy resource mapping.

This Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) is a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank. Pakistan joins a small group of mainly developed countries, having access to duly validated and high quality solar energy maps.

How These Maps will help Pakistan?

The World Bank project on solar mapping in Pakistan includes field data. Which is being generated by nine solar measurement stations installed two years ago throughout the country.

This initiative will facilitate investors in making more informed project decisions. The project supports AEDB’s efforts to harness renewable energy in all the provinces by improving access to bankable data. The maps will help large solar power projects in obtaining commercial financing by reducing the resource risk.

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 –  Anthony Cholst, World Bank

These new solar maps for Pakistan were unveiled yesterday at a workshop in Islamabad, attended by a cross section of stakeholders.

The solar maps, and the underlying solar data, can be accessed for free via the Global Solar Atlas. In addition, the maps are available in digital format for use in Geographic Information System (GIS) applications and Google Earth.