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Pakistan has the world's first parliament powered entirely by solar

Pakistan has the world's first parliament powered entirely by solar

Pakistan has the world's first parliament powered entirely by solar

It is often said that our own parliament could be powered by the huge amount of guff and hot air its occupants emit when it sits. Sadly, politicians’ windbaggery doesn’t keep the lights on. One house of legislature does, however, run on electricity produced entirely from solar and its identity might surprise you.

It’s Pakistan’s National Assembly, which built an array in 2014 to produce 80MW of electricity which covers the annual electricity demand for the parliament and exports a 17MW surplus to the grid. Pakistan, which relies heavily on imported oil and gas for its energy, is planning on running all government buildings from solar.

Pakistan has the world's first parliament powered entirely by solar

It's interesting to note that the project has been supported by China who’s factories produced the huge number of panels needed for an array of this size. This one off Chinese export to Pakistan will replace decades of oil and gas imports from neighbouring Gulf states. China, with its massive and ultra efficient solar industry will be looking to replicate this model all over the sunny parts of the world, exporting energy in a way that only oil and gas producers have been hitherto able to do. Solar on this scale will bring utility grade electricity to parts of Africa and Asia without the need for costly generation and grid infrastructure.  

The established energy order is changing rapidly.

Read the City AM story here..

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