The Ministry of Energy and Water is trying to increase the amount of solar electricity production to solve the challenges of electricity shortage in the country.

The spokesman for the Ministry of Energy of Islamic Emirate, Matiullah Abid, said that a five-year plan is being considered that includes two electricity projects with a capacity of 150 megawatts of solar power.

Meanwhile, the former head of DABS said that Afghanistan has the capacity to produce solar electricity up to 220,000 megawatts, which will solve the electricity shortage in the country by investing in this sector.

The Ministry of Energy and Water said that the problem of electricity shortage in the country will be solved with the implementation of the five-year solar electricity plan. 

The ministry said that the five-year solar electricity plan covers the provinces of Herat, Farah, Nangarhar, Paktia, Paktika, and Nimroz.

"100 megawatt solar power projects are still planned in Herat province and 50 megawatts in Nimroz province. In the solar power sector, including 77 Turkish companies, memorandums have been signed with various domestic and foreign companies," said Matiullah Abed, the spokesman of Energy and Water.

"There are two projects, one of which is a 20 MW project in Surubi and we talked with Donor and we are in the process of talking with them so that we can start this project.

Similarly, there is another 40 MW solar project which is being discussed with an investor," said the spokesman for DABS, Hekmatullah Maiwandi.

 According to the Ministry of Energy and Water, Afghanistan can now produce more than 220,000 megawatts of solar electricity, but no necessary investments have been made in this field.

"Afghanistan has the capacity to produce 222,000 megawatts of electricity from solar energy, but there are also problems in this field, for example: the lack of flat land where there are electricity production facilities, or if there is flat land, there is no substation," said Amanullah Ghaleb, former head of Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS).

In the meantime, some economic experts consider Afghanistan to be a good base for the production of solar electricity and called for more investments in this sector.

“Afghanistan has 300 sunny days throughout the year and this is a good resource and a good opportunity to generate electricity from solar energy. If we can use solar energy in the country's plains to produce electricity and have 300 sunny days, this issue can definitely help us in the area of electricity shortage in the country,” said Mohammad Bashir Shabiri, an economic analyst.

Earlier, the Ministry of Energy and Water has said that it will implement two hundred projects worth nearly $4 billion dollars in the electricity sector in the next five years.
Afghanistan is one of the countries in the world that is still not self-sufficient in electricity and buys imported electricity from various countries.