By Qamar Bashir
According to a World Bank research, Pakistan could save up to $10 billion per year on imports if it switched to 100% solar energy. This will lessen Pakistan's dependence on imported energy, making it more energy secure, while also lowering greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change. Another World Bank report identified Pakistan as a potential solar energy powerhouse, citing the country's average solar radiation of 5.3 kWh/m2/day, which is among the highest in the world. The report added that Pakistan could meet its present electricity
demand by installing roughly 24,000 MW of solar PV capacity while only utilizing 0.071% of its geographical area.
According to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in
2021, the total installed solar capacity in Pakistan increased significantly from 5
MW in 2012 to 2,327 MW by the end of 2020. According to a 2019 report by the
Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB), the solar energy sector in
Pakistan could attract up to $40 billion in investment, leading to the installation of
30,000 MW of solar power capacity by 2030. According to a report published by
the World Bank in 2020, the rooftop solar market in Pakistan could reach 1,500
MW by 2030, creating substantial business opportunities for solar companies and
service providers.
Solar energy is presently the most clean, efficient, and cost-effective fuel for
boosting economic growth, creating new employment opportunities, and
contributing to the nation's energy security and environmental sustainability.
Around the world, it has already entered the second phase and will shortly enter the
third. It is becoming an increasingly important component of a nation's energy mix
as an outcome of favorable regulations and ongoing investment. It is the fastest
growing industry for assisting residential users, businesses, and industries in
avoiding expensive power bills and giving excess electricity to the national grid to
help the government reduce its payments for imported fuels such as coal, gas, and
oil.
As a result of countries around the world investing significant resources to improve
the efficiency and durability of solar cells, the earliest solar cells designed in the
1950s had an efficiency of a few percent, which climbed to 15% in the 1960s and
1970s. Solar cell costs continued to fall in the 1980s and 1990s due to economies
of scale and the development of new manufacturing techniques, and by the end of
the 1990s, solar cell costs had fallen to the point where they were competitive with
other forms of energy in some applications. In recent years, developments in solar
cell technology have increased the efficiency of solar cells to 26.1% by 2022, with
a commensurate decrease in cost when compared to other kinds of energy,
particularly in sunny nations like Pakistan. Solar cells are a promising technology
that has the potential to play a significant part in the energy future. In comparison
to other sources of energy, they are a clean, renewable, and cost-competitive,
which means they do not emit greenhouse gases or other pollutants. They are also a
distributed energy source, which means they may be deployed near where they are
needed, reducing the need for transmission lines and other infrastructure.
Our government has also taken a number of initiatives to promote the use of solar
energy, including the unveiling of the National Renewable Energy Policy (NREP)
in 2019, which seeks to boost the amount of renewable energy in the country's
electrical mix to 20% by 2030. As a result, NREP has provided a number of
incentives for solar energy production, including tax rebates, subsidies, and feed-in
tariffs. It has implemented a Net Metering Policy, which allows households and
businesses to generate their own electricity from solar panels and sell any excess to
the grid. This regulation has made installing solar panels more affordable for
homeowners and businesses. It has implemented the Solar Home Systems (SHS)
Program, which gives loans to rural households to install solar home systems in
order to improve the lives of millions of people in rural areas by giving access to
electricity. The government is also improving the regulatory environment for solar
energy by establishing the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB), which
is in charge of supporting renewable energy development in Pakistan. It also
passed the Renewable Energy Act (REA) in 2019 along with a legal framework for
renewable energy growth in Pakistan. The REA has contributed to a more
favorable climate for solar energy investment.
The general population, compelled and forced by the escalating electricity bill, is
turning to solar panels in large numbers and meeting their own energy needs and
supply excess energy to the WAPDA via telemetering, providing windfall benefits
to the country in terms of reduced import bill, sustainable source of energy and job
creation. It has a great flexibility and scalability to match energy needs of homes,
businesses, and communities and to to provide electricity to remote and rural areas
where access to traditional grid-connected electricity is limited. However, more
work remains to be done to encourage the usage of solar energy in Pakistan.
We can set a standard. Germany is a pioneer in the development and application of
solar energy. Solar energy will account for 14.2% of Germany's electricity
generation in 2021, which is the highest in the world. This is expected to go up to
50.3% by 2023. Germany is making progress on all fronts at the same time. It
plans to generate 80% of its energy from solar, wind, biomass, and hydropower
sources by 2030. Meanwhile, it is abandoning nuclear power and intends to reduce
most of its coal capacity, relying primarily on gas facilities for grid backup.
Let us take a cue from our neighbor India, which aims to generate 50% of its
energy from renewable sources by 2030. It launched the Jawaharlal Nehru
National Solar Mission in 2010, with the goal of reaching 20 GW by 2022.
However, India has accelerated its transformation, and as of early 2023, the
country has already increased its installed solar capacity to 64 GW, exceeding and
upgrading its renewable energy aspirations during the last decade.
Not only India, but the entire world, is moving toward renewables. Renewables
have surpassed conventional electricity generation in terms of new capacity
additions since 2013. Renewables will account for 84% of all new power plants by
2022. For example, 2021 saw the largest annual capacity additions worth 175
gigawatts (GW) of solar photovoltaic power, bringing the total global solar PV
capacity to 942 GW. Developing countries led this rapid transition, with China
leading the race by adding the highest annual amount of solar power capacity,
while India and Brazil ranked among the top five countries.
We can achieve this level of renewable energy simply by following and
implementing policies, strongly supporting it, and injecting financial incentives in
the research and development (R&D) sector in the solar industry to create
indigenous reservoirs of scientists and researchers to develop indigenous
ecosystems to help drive down the cost of solar cells, in conjunction with the
launch of a social campaign to raise awareness and educate the masses about
converting houses, businesses, and other structures to solar cells.
We must make solar energy permeable at the grassroot level by launching a social
moment by developing our own innovative strategies to involve all households
both rich and poor, in this campaign, which can be lifesaving for Pakistan given
the state of our economy, rising inflation, and ever increasing oil and gas import
bills, which, if saved, will solve the majority of our foreign exchange woes.
In addition to our own strategies, we can learn from Bangladesh's Grameen Shakti
program, which has been subsidizing the acquisition of solar energy systems for
households and businesses since 1996. Borrowers are split into groups of five to 10
persons in this model, and the groups meet on a regular basis to discuss their
finances and provide mutual support. Borrowers begin by making tiny monthly
payments; if they pay on time, they automatically become eligible for larger loans
without offering collateral which incentivises even the poorest people to obtain
financing. Since its start, the program has financed nearly 2 million Bangladeshi
homes and businesses. These households and companies used the finance to
purchase solar energy systems, allowing them to save money on their energy costs
while also improving their quality of life. The Grameen Shakti model has been
duplicated in various countries to give financing to households and companies to
transition to solar energy. Offering tax breaks and incentives to businesses and
industries which are meeting their energy demand by renewable sources and
penalizing those who don't could also be a part of overall strategy.
Countries around the world have repeatedly demonstrated that with the right vision
and unwavering political will, we can bring about dramatic change in sectors or
projects, including the power industry. Let us not waste our intelligence, collective
wisdom, political and economic capital on futile pursuits such as settling personal
scores, pursuing politics of vengeance and vendetta, and guiding and prodding the
country toward impending calamity. We can become a developed country within a
decade if we set the right course and then focus all of our intellectual and political
capital on achieving milestones set by observing the norms of a civilized society
that always keeps the constitution and the law of the land supreme,equal, and
approachable to all.
