US to expand clean energy cooperation with Pakistan: Blome

KARACHI: Ambassador Donald Blome Friday said the US was resolved to expand its technical cooperation with Pakistan to promote clean energy and assist the country in its transition towards renewable resources.

Blome said this during his visit to Thatta, Jhimpir, the wind corridor, as part of the US-Pakistan Green Alliance framework that aims to further strengthen the bilateral partnership between our two countries. 

Under the framework, the US is engaged with partners throughout Pakistan to support clean energy and sustainable water management in the country.

“I’m incredibly pleased to be able to travel through Sindh province today and meet with our partners supporting the US-Pakistan ‘Green Alliance’ framework,” said Ambassador Blome.

“This trip is a chance to see and highlight US investment in the region, and how it is focused on supporting Pakistan as it strengthens climate resilience, pursues energy transformation, and fosters inclusive economic growth.

In Jhimpir, Ambassador Blome visited the USAID-funded power grid station and the US International Development Finance Corporation-funded Hawa Energy Limited wind power project.

The plant contributes 50 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy to Pakistan’s national grid, enough to power more than 10,000 homes.

He also visited the Center for Advanced Studies in Water at Mehran University of Engineering and Technology – initially established through a $12 million cooperative agreement between Mehran University and USAID – where he discussed the partnerships between US and Pakistani universities that strengthen research in water and environment-related fields.

“The ‘Green Alliance’ framework is helping us jointly meet the climate, energy, water, and economic needs of the present and future,” Blome said in the same statement.

During his visit to Karachi, Ambassador Blome toured a US government-funded UNICEF project, where he was able to see how a solar-powered reverse osmosis desalination plant installed at the community mosque is making a positive difference in the lives of Afghan refugees and Pakistani host community members.

He observed mobile nutrition screening and heard how the project is helping children and pregnant and nursing mothers from the surrounding area, which does not have a local health clinic.

He also congratulated recent graduates at the Vocational Training Institute for Women, where UNHCR, through US funding, supports skills training for Afghan refugees and Pakistani host community women.

Ambassador Blome also visited Makli graveyard, one of the largest historic burial grounds in the world. He visited the site with the Sindh Minister of Culture and a representative of the Heritage Foundation to see the results of the $260,000 Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) project to preserve and stabilize the 400-year-old tombs of Sultan Ibrahim and Amir Sultan Muhammad, two of the most prominent structures at Makli Hill.

During the past 20 years, the AFCP has provided $7.1 million to support 32 projects conserving, preserving, and restoring Pakistan’s rich cultural heritage.