GHALANAl: The Fata Development Authority (FDA) has installed a windmill to run a water supply scheme in Sam Ghakhi area of Mohmand Agency.

FDA agency coordination officer Tariq Khan told Dawn the windmill would provide an alternative source of energy, which would operate round the clock. He added that a tank had been built to store water.

He said the FDA had initiated several alternative energy programmes in the agency to address power crisis.

Tariq Khan said the solar energy programme was initiated in August 2005 to electrify 450 villages as well as 250 water supply schemes in the region. He said the FDA launched several projects, electrifying villages with 3,723 houses with solar energy, while 119 solar pumps, 178 solar streetlights and 505 solar geysers were installed at community places in all tribal agencies.

`There are several sites in Fata, where wind is sufficient to produce power for local communities,` he said.

The FDA official said the authority had launched a pilot project of wind energy in Mohmand. `We`ll use wind energy to supply water to the border areas, which have no electricity,` he said.

Tariq Khan said in the border areas, wind speed was five meters per second, while the windmill needed minimum wind speed of three meters per second. He said a windmill would be installed in Yousaf Baba area for irrigation purpose. `We`ll examine the performance of windmill and will use the lessons learnt in the next schemes,` he said.