Chapter -2 Natural Resources

Q : “Energy Crisis in an important problem of Pakistan”. Discuss its reasons

and remedies.
Introduction :
Energy is considered to be life line of any economy and most vital instrument of socioeconomic
development of a country. Energy is pivotal in running machinery in factories and industrial units,
for lighting our cities and powering our vehicles etc.
There has been an enormous increase in the demand of energy as a result of industrial development
and population growth, in comparison to enhancement in energy production.

Pakistan’s Energy Sector:

Pakistan's installed capacity to generate electricity has surged up to 33,836 MW by February 2019
which stood at 23,337 MW in 2014, showing the growth of 45 percent in five years.

Cause Of Energy Crisis In Pakistan

1. Aging of the Equipment
One very important reason attributed to this energy shortage is the aging of the generating
equipment which could not develop the electricity as per the design requirement. This is the
responsibility of continuous updating the equipment and keeping the high standard of
maintenance.
 2. Wastage of Energy
No serious thought is being given to utilize the energy at the optimum level. A new culture
need to develop to conserve energy. Maximum energy is consumed by elite class which have
all the resources of knowledge and communication. But for their own luxury they themselves
ignore the problem.

3. High Cost of Fuel

It means the generation from thermal units are costing exorbitant price. WAPDA and KESC
when purchasing electricity on higher cost are not eager to keep on selling the electricity on
loss. Therefore they do not move on general complain of load shedding.

4. Monopoly in the Business

WAPDA and KESC are two generation and dispatch units in Pakistan. Although NEPRA is a
government authority to settle the tariff issues but the fact remains that once the question of
WAPDA comes the authority has a very little influence.

5. Exploring Coal
Pakistan is blessed with large amount of the coal, again no serious work is done to explore the
coal for power generation. This is complained that the coal quality is inferior, however tailored
made solutions are available to burn any type of coal. Government is looking for private sector
to play its role.

5. Role of Government
So far the government is looking for private sector investment in energy sector and for itself
it choose a role of facilitator and arbitrator.

6. Energy Planning
In spite higher costs immediate relief is only possible with thermal power plants which can be
commissioned in 24 months time. But due to ineffective planning our country is still facing the
situation of load-shedding.

7. Distribution System
This is true that the distribution system causes many unwanted tripping and break down but
now we honestly believe that the shortage of energy generation is our main cause of the
problem for last twenty years WAPDA and KESC complaining about the distribution system
but fails to bring any improvement
 Solutions for the energy crises of Pakistan

1. Pakistan’s Reserves should be Explored

This is time that Pakistan should explore all its available resources. The smaller size power
plants near the coal mines which can get direct feed and connect to National Grid will be an
ideal configuration.

2. More dams should be constructed

To meet the energy crises there should be more dams to be constructed, and this is not required
that they should only be made on large scale, rather they can be on the small scale as well.

3. Attitude of people should change

The one main thing is that the attitude of the people should be changed, if it will be done so
the awareness for the power savage will grow up in the minds of the people.

4. Effective plans for energy should be made

The plans that are made for the reduction of the energy crises should be effective and efficient,
this is required that those people that are living in the rural areas should utilize the
nonconventional sources of energy and the conventional sources should be used by the urban
areas.

5. Proper funds to utilize natural resources

The funds that are sanctioned by the government for the utilization of resources are not enough
that they meet the requirements of our country, so it is required that proper funds should be
allocated for them.
6. New resources should be explored
This is also very important for the country Pakistan that those resources that are gifted to us by
nature should be explored effectively; new technology should be used to explore these
resources.

CONCLUSION
Our country is facing a lot of problems regarding to the energy resources, but yet there are
ways by which these resources can be utilized. All the thing that is need to be done is that
efficient technology, proper funds, government interest and effective plans for utilizing the
underutilized resources. If Pakistan will not take steps for the development of energy and
power resources than it will have the worse result on the further years.