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ENERGY CRISIS IN PAKISTAN: THE CHALLENGES AND ALTERNATIVES

Article · March 2012

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ENERGY CRISIS IN
PAKISTAN
THE CHALLENGES AND ALTERNATIVES

Muhammad Arif
IQRA UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD CAMPUS
ENERGY CRISIS IN PAKISTAN: THE CHALLENGES AND ALTERNATIVES 1

Energy crisis is the tender issue for every Pakistani. Like motherhood and apple pie, it’s not
something to neglect and forget. It does not matter wherever you are even in Islamabad or any
village of central Punjab; one thing as an individual you will quest for is the lightening of your
room and charging of your mobile phones. The thing that has almost challenged the legitimacy
of government, and affected adversely the fate of economy over the last couple of years.

Several industries and businesses are closed down, and thousands have lost their jobs. People
daily lives have become miserable. We are currently facing up to 18 hours of electricity shortage
a day. The energy has turned out to be an unbearable challenge for every Pakistani. Because as
recently as 2001-the country had 4,000 megawatts of excess power capacity that was sufficient
for the entire economy. However, now a day’s unfortunately, the situation has gained threatening
prospects.

Gone are the good days when the economy was growing 7 % annually, but now it’s restricted to
hardly 3 %. The ADB identified rising inflation, investment decline, low tax revenue and losses
at public-sector enterprises as other factors hindering economic growth, but it sees the power as
the main constraint for the economic decline.

Pakistan is well known for few things among others. Urbanization is rapidly increasing in this
state of south Asia; and the demand of electricity is high but not the supply. Cities in Pakistan are
mostly overcrowded by the lower and upper-middle-class people. Few of those living in the
cities have installed the generators and CPUs but not everybody affords them. This has worsened
the lives of people, especially those survivals are on daily earnings. It has created grave
consequences for the society. A recent estimate shows that 15 to 20 percent of energy is either
theft or wasted through poor distribution systems. Industry, transport and domestic sectors are
the three important consumers of energy. It is assumed that a misplaced use of energy is rampant
in industries, which need to be curtailed.

Lack of political will and leadership are still waiting. When one look at the causes of this curse,
may come to point by realizing the reasons for shortage of energy are lopsided priorities, poor

1
First published by Afghan Journalists Committee in 2012
management and lack of accountability and transparency. The whole transportation system is
almost running on the CNG, and now days; we have the large cues in front of CNG pumps.
Rough estimates made available by think tankers, and researchers claim that Pakistan has faced
1000 to 2000 MW shortage of power. It will likely face 3000MW in upcoming years. Pakistan is
facing 80 million tons of oil shortage as weigh against to its need. And is also lacking behind the
needs of natural gas at about 27 million ton of energy in current year and this ratio will rise in
upcoming years.

Few years back, Pakistan used to get half of its electricity from hydro power and remaining from
thermal generation. However, there is a limit to the extent of exploitation of hydro resources and
thermic power plants due to environmental and other concerns. Modalities for overcoming the
energy crisis are multifold. To meet the challenges, there is a dire need to go to the alternate
sources of energy.

Some people suggest that process of converting coal into product gas underground can be a good
alternative source of energy production. Technically, this process is called as underground coal
classification. Through this, the underground deposit of coal is treated with controlled fire.
Gradually, the coal turns into gas. The largest coal reserves of Pakistan exist in Thar located in
Sindh province of Pakistan. This source can be utilized for overcoming the energy shortage.

Coal, the renewable energy as biomass has solutions to our problems. Biomass, material derived
from plants or animals, includes wastes, agricultural residues and garbage. It is suggested that
subsidies and tax concessions must be provided for importing machinery for establishing bio gas
power plants in Pakistan. It can prove to be a great source of energy for Pakistan.

Second option is solar-energy panels, though the initial cost of installing solar panels is
comparatively high but through them, the highest levels of efficiency can be reached.
Baluchistan has had to gain most of the governmental consideration recently and has the great
solar potential there. It’s said that it is not only the valley of minerals, but it has a lot of wind and
solar energy, having a scattered habitat and ample sunshine.

However, the number of solar panels installed there were very few. Some important advantages
which favor the use of solar-energy use in Pakistan include low operational and maintenance
cost and environmental friendly dimension.
 The existing thermal power plants running on expensive imported furnace oil can be converted
into natural gas and afterwards to coal. However, only if the government can go for establishing
a government body for fixing targets for development of power sectors. Ways must also be
devised to stop power theft besides transmission and distribution losses.

The long transmission lines connecting grid with hydro stations are faced with transmission
losses. These hydro stations are located mostly in the north of the country while thermal units are
mainly installed in the centre and southern areas of Pakistan.

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