Dawood-Shahid

O-I

Power Resources
Pakistan

Pakistan’s energy resources consist of fossil fuels (coal, gas, and oil), and renewable
energy (hydropower, wind, solar, wood, etc). Pakistan does not have adequate oil
reserves and has to import large quantities of crude oil and petroleum products to meet
more than 80% of its oil requirements. The natural gas reserves of the country are
limited, however, the coal reserves are large but yet undeveloped.

The hydropower potential of Pakistan is estimated to be 50,000 MW. Around 13.7% of

the estimated potential has been exploited. The hydro potential is located in
mountainous regions, away from load centers. High investment costs (for electricity
generation and transmission), socio-political issues, such as water allocation among the
provinces, and resettlement of people, are some of the reasons for not exploiting the
potential to its full capacity. Pakistan has a considerable potential for wind energy. The
economically exploitable wind potential is about 50,000 MW.

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Some of the Non-renewable Energy Resources are:

1. Coal:
Coal is a very old fossil fuel as it takes hundreds of millions of years to be formed. There
are various types of coal ranging from anthracite to peat. Coal is a massive energy
resource that exists in the country and further exploration in different areas is in
progress but only a fraction of it is being utilized.

Lignite: Found near the Earth’s surface and is easier to mine.

Bituminous: Darker in color and is formed deep underground.
Anthracite: Blackest coal, formed in thin layers very deep underground.
Location: Coal is found in the four provinces of Pakistan ( Punjab, Sindh, KPK,
Balochistan). Quetta coalfields in BalochistanLowersindh coalfields in Sindh, Salt Range
coalfields in Punjab, Makerwal and Charat coalfields in KPK.
Uses: Sub-bituminous coal is used in brick kilns and for briquetting, heating boilers in
the thermal power stations, and ceramic industries.
Till the late 1990s, coal was considered the least popular energy fuel due to its poor
quality and dangerous mining conditions. Recently the government has been
considering the use of coal in the industrial sector and for power generation as well.
New reserves of coal have been discovered in recent years. It is estimated that Pakistan
has 7508 million tonnes of proven coal reserves in eight major fields. As the price of oil
and the tremendous amount of foreign exchange involved in the import of oil, the
authorities have considered using indigenous coal as an alternate source of fuel.

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Many coal-mining and power generation projects are in the process of development in
Thar coalfield. Imported coal power plants may also be required to consider mixing with
Thar coal. Several plants on imported coal have now started functioning like the one in
Sahiwal, two at Port Qasim and one plant on locally produced coal has also started
running in Thar.
The volume of import cargo stood at 21.878 million tonnes in Jul-Dec 2019 against
20.125 million tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year, showing an
increase of 8.7%. Major non-containerized imports were coal, LNG, petroleum products,
chemicals, palm oil, and grain. Coal was the largest imported cargo that represented
over 34% of the total import cargo, said the survey.
Due to coal extraction, the environment is getting polluted that’s why a lot of countries
are banning the extraction of coal while Pakistan is extracting it as much as they can to
gain Economic benefits.
Environmental losses: Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of fly ash and
mercury pollution which falls into nearby rivers where it builds up in fish. Fly ash causes
severe problems, like lowered crop yield, respiratory disorder inhuman and livestock,
and contamination of underground water with toxic salts and metallic contents.
Economic Gains: Experts claim that to overcome the current energy crisis, Pakistan
has no other way except development of indigenous energy resources. Their coal fields
have estimated lignite reserves of 175 billion tons that could be used to produce
100,000MW of power for 200 years. There is much coal to be exported to India.

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2. Mineral Oil (Petroleum):
It is the most important fossil fuel today. Also known as “Black-Gold”.it occurs in the
porous spaces of sedimentary rocks and is derived mainly from the decompositions of
marine animals and vegetative matter over millions of years. It mainly occurs in
dome-shaped anticlines between two layers of non-porous rocks.

Oil is a liquid and cannot be extracted in the same way as coal. Now, wells are drilled to
pump this liquid fuel out of the ground. Once the drilling site has been selected, a
derrick (large steel structure that holds drilling pipes and other equipment) or drilling
rig is set up.
Crude oil can’t be used in its raw state.it has to be processed and refined into useful
products such as petrol for cars, airplanes, heating oil, kerosene, diesel oil also used as a
lubricant for machines to reduce friction. Crude oil is turned into its pure form in Oil
refineries.
Location: In or near the oil fields. Attock oil refinery is located on the Potowar Plateau
at Morga OR at the port of import, Pakistan refinery and National refinery both are
located in Karachi.
Economic survey: Crude oil production accounted for 29.3% of the total requirements
in the year 2007-08, whereas its import accounted for 70.7% of the total requirements.
Petroleum products in Pakistan met 53.87%of the total requirements in the year
2007-.8, whereas import of petroleum products accounted for 46.13$ of the total
requirements.
Transportation: Oil is transported in three ways, transportation by road and rail
tankers is relatively costly, time-consuming, and inefficient as compared to transmission
by pipelines. Movement of these products by road is not only dangerous for traffic but
because of its weight, it can cause extreme degradation to the roads. Pipeline
transportation is the most efficient, convenient, and cheapest mode of transportation
besides being far more environmentally friendly. The Pak Arab Refinery Company
(PARCO) is playing a vital role in the transportation of cured oil from Karachi. After
refining the crude oil is supplied to the up and mid-country. The refined petroleum

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products are transported from Karachi to the upcountry by road and rail tanks to be
supplied to the petrol stations and the other customers.

Production (barrels/day):
Saudia-Arabia: 12,081.00
China: 4,449.00
UAE: 3708.00
Canada: 4881.00
Iran: 4,697.00
Pakistan: 94.00
The consumption of petroleum products (energy products) in Pakistan stands at 19.68
million tonnes per annum against a supply of 11.59 million tonnes from domestic
refineries while the remaining 8.09 million tonnes are imported. Oil prices have crashed
and lost over 60% of their value in the past few months owing largely to no agreement
between the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and major
non-OPEC crude producers on cutting world production and a sharp decline in demand
due to the closure of industries, tourism and services sectors across the world in the
wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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3. Natural Gas:
Natural gas is an important fuel found in oil-bearing rocks and above the oil. These
rocks have millions of tiny holes they act like a sponge and soak up the gas as it is
formed. Natural gas is made up of many gases especially methane, ethane, propane, and
butanes. Natural gas is a clean, safe, efficient, and environment-friendly fuel. Its supply
contributes about 38% to the total primary energy supply mix in the country. Natural
GAs has been discovered in Pakistan in 1952 at Sui, Balochistan, by Pakistan Petroleum
Limited (PPL) while drilling in search of oil.

Pakistan has an extensive gas network spread over 12,971 km for gas transmission,
139,827 km for distribution, and 37,058 services gas pipelines to cater to the
requirement of more than 9.6 million consumers across the country. Pakistan consumes
1,590,904 million cubic feet (MMcf) of natural gas per year as of the year 2017. Pakistan
ranks 21st in the world for natural gas consumption, accounting for about 1.2% of the
world's total consumption of 132,290,211 MMcf. Pakistan consumes 7,652 cubic feet of
natural gas per capita every year (based on the 2017 population of 207,906,209 people),
or 21 cubic feet per capita per day. Pakistan produces 1,454,978.00 million cubic feet
(MMcf) of natural gas per year (as of 2015) ranking 26th in the world.

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4. Nuclear energy:
It is the power that is released from atoms. It is the most powerful source of energy. It is
the energy that powers the sun. Pakistan has 2332 MWe operating nuclear capacity and
1100 MWe under construction, with Chinese help. Pakistan's nuclear weapons
capabilities have arisen independently of its civil nuclear fuel cycle, using indigenous
uranium. Because Pakistan is outside the and nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, due to
its weapons program, it is largely excluded from trade in nuclear plants or materials,
which hinders its development of civil nuclear energy. However, China is positive about
nuclear cooperation with Pakistan, and a 2018 International Atomic Energy Agency
program further supports civil nuclear power.
The Karachi Nuclear Power Plant was commissioned in 1971 as the first nuclear power
station, it has an installed capacity of 137MW. The second nuclear power plant was
Chasma Nuclear Power Plant, which was constructed under a contract between the
Pakistan Atomic energy Commission and the China National Nuclear operation.
Total generation (in 2018): 149.2 TWh
Total consumption: 121.5 TWh
Generation mix: natural gas 53.5 TWh (36%), hydro 37.4 TWh (25%), oil 31.2 TWh
(21%), coal 11.5 TWh (8%), nuclear 10.5 TWh (7%), wind 3.2 TWh (2%), biofuels 1.0 TWh,
solar 0.9 TWh.
Import/export balance: 0.6 TWh import (no export)
Per capita consumption: circa 600 kWh/yr

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5.Thermal electricity:
Electricity is a flexible form of energy that can be easily converted to heat, light, or
sound energy. The electricity that is generated by non-renewable resources like coal, oil,
gas, nuclear fuel is called “Thermal electricity”. Fossil fuels and nuclear power stations
produce heat energy which is used to turn water into steam which is then used to run
turbines.
The installed electricity generation capacity in Pakistan reached 35,972 megawatts by
the end of April 2020 as compared to 33,452MW in April 2019, a growth of 7.5%,
reveals Pakistan Economic Survey 2019-20. According to the survey, the share of
hydroelectric power in total power generation increased from 25.8% in April 2019 to
30.9% by April 2020. However, the share of thermal power dropped from 63% to 58.4%.
The share of nuclear electricity went up from 3% to 8.2% whereas the share of
renewable energy dropped from 8.2% to 2.4%.

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Alternative Energy Resources:
Pakistan has four main renewable energy sources. These are wind, solar, hydro, and
biomass. These resources have a significant potential to provide solutions to the
long-lasting energy crisis in Pakistan. Hence, the steady development of these resources
is a crucial step to overcome the existing energy challenges in an environmentally
friendly manner. Among the different renewable energy sources, solar energy has
received the most research attention. It has been projected that Pakistan will contribute
up to 10,000 MW to its energy mix through renewable energy resources by 2030.
Therefore, timely and appropriate progress to exploit the potential of different natural
energy resources will have a tremendous influence in meeting future projections.

1. Hydro electrical power(HEP):

Water is one of the most vital constituents that support all forms of life on earth and
offers various other services such as power generation. Hydropower relates to the
generation of power from dropping water. The kinetic energy present in water dropping
from elevated levels can be transferred into mechanical power via a hydropower turbine
and then to electricity using an electric generator. The output of electricity is directly
proportional to the elevation of moving water (pressure) and flow rate.

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Hydropower is a major source of renewable energy in Pakistan with a great potential for
SHPPs especially in locations between the Arabian Sea and mountainous areas such as
Hindu Kush, Himalayas, and the Karakorum. These features offer enough potential
energy to the falling water to develop a maximum pressure. Moreover, major rivers such
as Sutlej, Ravi, Chenab, and Jhelum, falling into the Indus River can be explored for
power generation. The power generation capacity of SHPPs for the above sites is 2250
MW. Pakistan has 18,502,227,829.8 m3 capacity to store 13 % of its annual river flow
whilst the rest of the water directly flows down to the Arabian Sea. Therefore, additional
water storage capacity (such as dams) will be obligatory for future sustainable irrigation
and electric power generation. In Pakistan, the total estimated hydropower generation is
over 42,000 MW, but unfortunately, only 16 %, amounting to around 6758 MW, has
been technically exploited so far. Ninety percent of this comes from hydropower
resources in the northern parts of Pakistan.

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2. Solar Power:
Solar is believed to be one of the most endowed renewable energy sources. It is reliable
and capable of producing a substantial amount of energy without posing adverse
impacts on the environment. Generally, PV cell and solar thermal conversion systems
are used to capture solar energy for various applications in rural and urban areas. PV
technology is capable of converting direct sun radiation into electricity. Solar thermal
technology uses thermal solar collectors to capture energy from the sun to heat up water
to steam for electricity generation

Pakistan with a land area of 796,096 km2 is located between longitudes 62° and 75° east
and latitudes 24° and 37° north. This unique geographical position and climate
conditions are advantageous for the exploitation of solar energy. Almost every part of
the country receives 8–10h/day high solar radiation with more than 300 sunshine days
in a year. The figure below illustrates the range of solar radiation levels per month in the
major cities of Pakistan.

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3. Wind Power:
The development and use of alternative energy resources have been a major endeavor
since 2003. The Pakistani government has set up a recognized body, to coordinate
efforts in this area. This organization plays an important role in narrowing the gap
between demand and supply of electricity by promoting the utilization of renewable
energy. Pakistan’s Meteorological Department (PMD) has collaborated with the
National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL), USA, to conduct a wind speed survey
of 46 different locations in Sindh and Baluchistan provinces with height ranging from
10–30 m. The data from the feasibility studies were analyzed by the Alternative Energy
Development Board Pakistan (AEDB), and it was found that a vast area of 9750 km2
with a high wind speed was discovered and zoned as “Gharo-Corridor” as shown in the
figure below. The area has a significant potential to produce around 50,000 MW of
electricity. However, due to the occurrence of other economic activities, only 25 % of the
area can be utilized with a production potential of 11,000 MW

Moreover, significant wind speeds were identified in the coastal part of Baluchistan,
particularly in Swat and some of the Northern areas. Out of 42 examined sites, seven
have a capacity factor ranging from 10 to 18 % and are appropriate for Bonus wind
turbines (Model 600/44 MK IV). However, the potential of these sites is still being
explored although the capacity is not enough to contribute to the national grid. NREL,
together with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has
identified a total gross wind resource of 346,000 MW in Pakistan, where approximately

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120,000 MW can be technically exploited to power the national grid. Recently, a wind
project with 500 MW capacities has been completed in 2013. In addition, more than 18
wind turbine companies are approaching AEDB to install 3000 MW wind projects. At
the moment, the first phase of the Zorlu wind project generating 6 MW is in operation
whilst a 56 MW plant is yet to be installed. Different wind power projects with a
cumulative capacity of approximately 964 MW are at different phases of construction
and would be completed in the near future. The Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy
Technologies (PCRET) has installed nearly 150 small wind turbines ranging between
0.49 and 9 kW with a cumulative power output of 160 kW at the different areas of Sindh
and Baluchistan, powering 1569 homes including 9 security check posts. Also,
thousands of small wind turbines with a capacity of 300–1000 W have been installed by
different Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), electrifying rural areas of Sindh
province. Most recently, three villages of Baluchistan have been powered using a
wind/PV hybrid system. With further investment and development, wind energy could
become a major component of a sustainable energy future in Pakistan.

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