Pakistan occupies top position
in the list of energy deficient countries and Pakistani nation faces the most
troublesome power shortage crisis commonly known as load shedding. They bear the
burden of electricity shortfall of 10 to 18 hours in different areas on daily
basis. It changes in rural and urban settings. It might further increase in the
future because of inadequate energy power supply mix, increasing energy gap
between supply & demand, and improper and inefficient policies to tackle the
matter effectively.
Pakistan is gifted with a hydro potential of approximately 59,773 MW, most of
which lies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and
Punjab. However, this abundant hydro potential is still untapped and needs to be
harnessed. According to the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB), the
total installed capacity of the hydropower stations in the country is about
6,703 MW, out of which 3,849 MW is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1,699 MW in Punjab,
1,039 MW in Jammu and Kashmir and 117 MW in Gilgit Baltistan.1
Neighbouring countries of Pakistan like India, Nepal, and Bangladesh cope with
the same energy crises. The better way to solve the issue is to adopt all
alternate ways to save and generate electricity through renewable resources to
overcome the energy shortage in Pakistan. Further best possible solutions are
development of indigenous energy resources like hydro power, solar and wind.
Solar electric system which are also called photovoltaic or PV systems convert
sunlight directly into electricity. We can generate some or all of our daily
electrical energy demand by photovoltaic power system.
Solar sector is the fastest-growing clean-energy industry in the world. In 2010,
17 GW of solar-generation capacity was added in the world which could power more
than 12.5 million homes. China produced 48 percent, or 13 GW, of the world’s
solar panels in 2010 and in 2012 it will be world’s largest market. China plans
to increase capacity to 50GW by 2020 including 30GW offshore capacity.2 India is
encouraging individuals to develop 12-acre solar farms to sell energy to state.
Almost entire textile sector of India has shifted to renewable energy.3
Technology including dual meter is being adopted in Europe and US that allow
individual homes to send surplus energy generated from renewable energy to main
grid online of US Energy Marshall Plan of 40s and are paid for it.
Nowadays, in Pakistan the electricity demand went up to 17,200 Megawatts whereas
production is 13,722 while the shortfall increased up to 3,517 Megawatts. Only 7
Megawatts electricity is generated by solar system yearly.
According to report publish in The Express Tribune, “Thar coal reserves,
estimated at 175 billion tons, have the potential to generate 5,000 megawatts of
electricity for at least 800 years to meet the growing energy demand of the
country, he added. According to a report, Thar coal reserves are far higher than
combined oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Iran”.7
Natural resources are modes of survival for a country like Pakistan which is
dependent mostly on economical aids and heavy loans from IMF and World Bank. A
long term planning and determination can lead to a bright future. With a fragile
economy and limited technological resources; natural wealth like solar power can
overcome the energy crises in Pakistan. Import of petroleum products for
production of required energy is not an ideal planning while switch on available
natural resources can short the burden in near future. Although, the coal and
hydro can a suitable alternate of large scale energy shortage in Pakistan but
technical instruments, skill and budget are not enough to switch on it while the
solar energy needs one time investment for pro-long output of power. The ideal
weather condition in Pakistan suits to adopt this approach to counter the short
fall. Mostly people use the UPS (Urgent Power Supply) in their houses whereas;
cost-wise and for power consumption this utilization is a failure approach. We
should adopt this new way to save energy for our industry and agriculture
sector.
The coming era of limited and expensive energy will be very more challenging for
everyone but it will be even more difficult if it is not anticipated and
carefully dealt. It is of utmost importance that the public and especially
policy makers should understand the global energy crisis and best possible way
to solve it.