Energy Crisis in Pakistan

Pakistan has been suffering from an energy crisis for about half a decade now. The power crisis
is proving to be unbearable. The sad state of affairs is that despite having enormous renewable
resources of energy, Pakistan has to import a huge amount of hydrocarbons from abroad to meet
its energy needs. As recently as 2001, the country had 4,000 megawatts of excess power capacity.
Today unfortunately the situation has gained threatening prospects. According to a research most
of the high enthalpy geothermal resources of the world lie within the seismic belts passing
through Pakistan. Pakistan has a history of geotectonic events. Tectonic plates are segments of
earths lithosphere, hard rocky outer shell. Hence this geothermal energy can be exploited in a
better sense of the term. The major resources of energy are oil, gas, petroleum products, coal,
nuclear, solar, biomass and wind energy. Electricity is a basic need for sustaining human life. We
cannot even imagine how our lives would have been if electricity was not discovered. Looking at it from
an economic growth perspective of a country, the creation of energy is very essential. Pakistan however
has been facing an acute shortage of electricity for many years now since 2007.

Whos to blame?
Critics blame it all on the government for lack of planning and a vision. They say no efforts were
made in the past to ensure a continuous increase in the power generation capacity of the country.
Even now, when the country is faced with devastating prospects, not much is seemingly done by
the government to tackle the issue. It has turned into a complete nightmare for Pakistanis. Many
people have resigned to the fact that the electricity crisis is here to stay for a long period of time.
How did the crisis start?
The elections of 2008 saw the PPP government coming to power. With it came hope for change
and a shift of policies towards the favor of the people. What a big mistake that turned out to be.
The present government is being touted as one of the worst ever to have ruled Pakistan. Take for
example the promises made by the Water and Power minister to the public that Load shedding
will be no more by December 2009. It is 2012 now, and were heading towards 2013. The crisis
has worsened.
The government has now pretty much given up and seems helpless with no plan to counter the
crisis. Its a strange situation. One week, there will be load shedding and everything will seem to
have been fixed. And the next week, load shedding strikes again with around 8-10 hours in major
cities and up to 12-14 hours in rural areas.
After February 2008 election, ruling government Water and Power development minister
promised publicly that after 31st December 2009 there will be no load shedding at all in
Pakistan. 31st December 2009 came and went but load shedding crisis has taken a form of
national disaster with cities facing up to 8-10 hours of load shading till today.

Pakistan has a total hydro potential of 40,000MW against which it generates only 6500 MW. If
the dams are not built there would be short fall of 40 million acre feet of water by the year 2006
and 108 million acre feet by 2013. Consequently power shortage will be up to 11,750 mkwh per
year. It will affect agricultural, industry, and particularly the storage capacity of Mangla Terbela
and Chashma dams will be reduced due to mud deposits.
Pakistan has worlds seven largest reserves of coal after discovery of THAR. These reserves are
still untouched due to lack of technique in coal mining. Similarly solar and wind energy in
coastal areas of Balouchistan and Sind have a lot of potential to generate electricity but
acquisition of technology at an enormous cost makes this a far fetched source. Pakistan has only
two nuclear plants providing two percent of electricity to our country. Population explosion is
another cause of energy crises.

How is the Energy crisis affecting business?

You can imagine that without electricity for a good part of a day (8 hours +) can really mess up
your business operations. Everything requires electricity. You cannot work if theres no power
available. Businesses and marketplaces understandably are suffering immensely and some are
even forced to close down. The alternate is buying a generator, but the costs of running it are too
much for most of the business owners. Shop owners are forced to close down, while business and
offices are forced to waste their precious time and wait for the power to come back on.
Productivity is badly affected.

Energy Crisis affecting the IT industry

Among many industries, the IT industry is the one affected the most with the coming of the
Energy crisis and rightly so. The IT industry is all about providing services and products through
the use of electronics, computers and everything that is related to power; which we lack.
Our IT industry was among the fastest growing industry in the Asian region. The energy crisis
has hit us bad. The whole industry has been forced to struggle and cut their costs down
drastically just so they can survive. This has of course had a trickle-down effect on the whole
economy and has negatively affected the jobs situation in the country as well.
The frightening thing is the fact that people are still now completely aware that this energy crisis
has the potential to completely destroy our economy. International Aid cannot be seen as the
solution, because it is not. It is only but a temporary bandage on a cancer wound.

Reasons for Shortage of Energy & Remedies.

Let us chalk out the reasons for shortage of energy. Lopsided priorities, poor management and
lack of accountability can be denoted as the reasons for dearth of energy in Pakistan. The number
of consumers of electricity are now increased owing to the rapid urbanization process. The
facility of electricity is now provided to the remote villages. We waste a lot of energy, about 15
to 20 percent through poor distribution system. Industrial, 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.
Few years back Pakistan used to get half of its electricity from hydel power and remaining from
thermal generation. However there is a limit to the extent of exploitation of hydel resources and
thermal power plants due to environmental and other concerns. Modalities for overcoming the
energy crisis are multifold. To meet the challenge 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 alternate source of energy. 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.Besides 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 biogas power plants in Pakistan. It can prove to be a great source of energy for us as
Pakistan is an agricultural country. Come to solar energy panels, though initial cost of installing
solar panels is comparatively high but through them the highest levels of efficiency can be
reached. I visited Balochistan recently and was really surprised to see the great solar potential
there. 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. But to my utter dismay 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, environment friendly dimension etc.
Similarly the wind energy is also in excess and we can harness this energy in a much more
effective way. Wind can be utilized to produce electricity at the coastal areas. If power plants are
set up driven by the wind energy along the coastline and this venture is handed over to foreign
investors, the results can be quite satisfactory. Manufacture of wind generators can be made
indigenously. Still other sources apart from hydel and thermal which can meet the growing
demand nuclear energy can also overcome the energy needs. Pakistan Atomic Energy
Commission has developed a large infrastructure to manufacture equipment for power but even
then we are not able to make considerable progress in the nuclear field.
More and more nuclear reactors for power generation must be built. Similarly, hot climatic
conditions of some areas of upper Sindh and Southern Punjab may prove to be a source of solar
energy. We have to devise bold and concrete ways on a war footing to overcome the electricity
deficit coupled with an instant change in attitude at the earliest. The Quaid-e-Azam said: Let us
mobilize all our resources in a systematic and organized way and tackle the grave issues that
confront us with grim determination and discipline worthy of a great nation. Therefore the
consolidation of the domestic resource mobilization is a call of the time. A collective national
effort is needed to face the challenge .Prompt measures need to be taken by the government. The
belated response will only add up to more problems.
One other suggestion is that the existing thermal power plants running on expensive imported
furnace oil can be converted into natural gas and afterwards to coal. 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 hydel stations are faced with transmission losses. These
hydel stations are located mostly in the north of the country while thermal units are mainly
installed in the centre and southern areas of Pakistan.
Political controversies relating to Kalabagh dam must be resolved. In this connection seminars
and media can play a good role. If there is a need the modifications in design may also be
suggested.
Presently Pakistan is pursuing a multi pro-longed strategy to ensure adequate and uninterrupted
oil and gas supply and other energy resources to sustain the present pattern of energy for the
rapid national economic growth. Greater reliance on gas, aggressive pursuit of hydroelectric
power generation, and enhancing nuclear power generation capacity are some of the key
elements of this strategy. Pakistan is also seeking to expand its primary energy supply base by
encouraging oil exploration and power generation companies to under take energy project in
Pakistan. The regional gas pip line projects in which Pakistan is actively pursuing to meet its
expanding domestic energy demands. These are the pre-requisite for resolving energy crises that,
unless resolved promptly, would cast a long shadow on the short and medium term objectives of
economic growth and development. The government should make strategies to overcome the
energy crises. The government plans to generate 7880 MW electricity by 2010 out of it 4860
MW is to be generated by firing natural gas. It should maximize the utilization of hydroelectric
resources through building of dams such as KALA BAGH DAM, BHASHA DAM etc. to
produce cheap electricity. It should improve relations with international and Regional
Corporation. It should activate in Thar coal project with the assistance of china to address energy
crises. It should adopt new policies to overcome the problem through renewable energy
resources i.e solar, wind and tidal energy.It should take positive steps to finalize international gas
pipe line projects i.e. IPI (India, Pakistan, Iran) Gas pipe line project which meet the needs of gas
demands of Pakistan and possibly India
It is often said that hope doesnt come from calculating whether the good news is winning out
over the bad. Its simply a choice to take action.