Afghanistan Increases Use of Renewable Energy Sources

As per Wasdam report, Naghlu Hydropower is the country’s largest hydropower plant. The rehabilitation of one of its four turbines was carried out under the Naghlu Hydropower Rehabilitation Project in May 2018.
The use of solar energy is also rapidly increasing throughout the country. The Afghan government recently issued a request for prequalification document for a 40MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project located in western Herat province. World Bank Group’s ‘Scaling Solar’ initiative will be acting as lead advisor for this project.
A meeting for interested companies and consortia will be organized on 5 November and prequalification applications must be submitted by 30 November 2019.
In May 2019, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) issued a $4 million to build and operate a 15.1-megawatt (MW) solar power plant. The aim of the project is to reach a goal set by the government to generate 40% share/5,000MW of the country’s total energy capacity from solar by 2032.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided $10 million fund to support a 10-MW solar power plant in Kandahar in 2017. Kandahar Solar became the first privately built and operated power plant of this capacity in Afghanistan.