Solar energy to transform life in Gilgit-Baltistan

Hunza, Pakistan, 30 November 2023 – In a game-changing first, NPak Energy Ltd, a subsidiary of Industrial Promotion Services (IPS), has installed a 1-MW solar power plant in the Hunza district of Gilgit-Baltistan to offset the region’s acute energy deficit and ensure communities living in these remote valleys a clean, sustainable source of electricity.

This project sets a unique precedent as the region’s first public-private partnership to produce clean energy at comparable scale, while actively contributing to global climate change mitigation.

Sitting at 2,800 metres above sea level, the plant’s more than 2,300 photovoltaic panels will produce 1,600 MWh of electricity per year to power local households and businesses. What it generates in clean energy will also avoid over 1,100 metric tons of CO2 equivalent annually (i.e., what more than 240 gas-fueled cars would emit per year, based on figures from the US EPA's Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator).

"The Government of Gilgit-Baltistan highly encourages clean and green energy solutions,” said Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan Honourable Haji Gulbar Khan, in his address to government officials, community leaders and representatives from NPak Energy management who attended the inauguration ceremony on 17 November.

“We congratulate the Aga Khan Development Network on commissioning the 1-MW solar power plant. We assure the communities that provincial government will focus on more renewable energy programmes to overcome the power shortages in Gilgit-Baltistan.”

NPak Energy has signed a 30-year Concession Agreement with the Government of Gilgit Baltistan. It aims to strengthen public service delivery by creating a sustainable, self-reliant utility operation that makes clean electricity reliable and affordable to every household in the Hunza district – and in turn catalyses economic opportunities and job creation.

"Having a strong track record in rural electrification through the Aga Khan Development Network’s renewable energy programmes in the region, we are proud to foster our work in Gilgit Baltistan within the partnership we have established with the Government, bringing sustainable energy to local communities,” said NPak Energy Ltd CEO Mr Mansoor Dhanani.

“We look forward to NPak Energy’s continued growth and success in Hunza District."

For more information, please contact:

Government of Gilgit-Baltistan

Mr Eman Shah, Advisor to the Chief Minister: [email protected]

NPak (IPS, AKFED)

Ramziya Muborakshoeva, Head of Resource Mobilization and Strategic Partnerships (Asia), IPS: [email protected]

Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) is the infrastructure and industrial development arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED). IPS has invested in over 1000MW of power generation in Africa and Asia. Key flagship power projects include Pamir Energy, an integrated utility in eastern Tajikistan, which expanded access to 24/7 clean electricity for 98 percent of the Viloyati Mukhtori Kuhistoni Badakhshon Region from the initial 13 percent; and the 250MW Bujagali HPP, located in Uganda.