STAFF REPORT ISB: Amid the prolonged energy crisis in Pakistan, UNIDO has announced to implement a project to promote market-based adoption of biomass gasification technologies for agro-processing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

The project, to be funded by Global Environmental Facility (GEF), will particularly introduce rice husk based gasification power plants in the rice producing areas in order to generate cheap and uninterrupted electricity.

In view of this, the UNIDO, by helping SMEs develop biomass gasification power plants, seeks to enable SMEs to contribute towards addressing the energy challenges in the country.

As part of this process, the UNIDO has signed an MoU with Punjab Rice Mills Association to support the development of a feasibility study for 1MW rice husk based gasification power plant at Bhawalnagar.

“Such projects will enable SMEs to have uninterrupted electricity to run their operations, which will increase their productivity and also help in providing low cost electricity,” said UNIDOs country representative Esam Alqararah.

Industrial Development Officer at UN, Alois P Mhlanga, has recently visited Pakistan for the project.

He mentioned this feasibility study does lay a strong foundation for finding new ways of clean energy by demonstrating technical feasibility and economic viability of biomass gasification technology.

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