Work will soon begin on a truly immense solar power project in Pakistan, which will one day generate up to 1000 megawatts of electricity.

The Punjab provincial government has put up the first $A5.35 million worth of power transmission lines, water pipes and a pristine new road across 40 km2 of the sun-drenched, water-parched desert.

The 1000 MW plant will be one of the largest in the world when it is completed, outstripping the goal for the current largest solar farm on Earth – the 550 MW Topaz Solar Farm in California.

The desert generator is the latest scheme to tackle rolling blackouts, which have plagued the population and begun to cost the economy dearly.

Temperatures can reach 50°C in the centre of Pakistan, sending demand for electricity soaring and leaving a shortfall of around 4,000 MW.

The first phase of the project will prove to international investors that the 1000 MW target can be met.

“In phase one, a pilot project producing 100 MW of electricity will hopefully be completed by the end of this year,” Imran Sikandar Baluch, head of the Bahawalpur district administration, told AFP.

“After completion of the first 100 MW project, the government will invite investors to invest here for the 1,000 megawatts.”

Engineers and other workers have already been fighting the heat to fire up the project, and authorities say they should be able to generate their first flows of electricity by November.

Pakistan is also looking to beat down its rising power worries through traditional means.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif launched the construction of a $A1.71 billion coal plant in the town of Thar.

Other recent works include a pilot 660 megawatt coal-fired plant in a small town near the Arabian Sea, and approval has been granted for another 600 megawatt coal plant in the south.

But the coal supplies are intended only as a quick fix, Mr Baluch said.

“We need energy badly and we need clean energy, this is a sustainable solution for years to come,” he said.

“Pakistan is a place where you have a lot of solar potential. In Bahawalpur, with very little rain and a lot of sunshine, it makes the project feasible and more economical.”