Energy Policy for Pakistan Energy Planning Till 2050

Energy specialists no longer have to acquaint the public with the existence of energy problem in Pakistan. Symptoms of our increasingly dependences of dwindling fuel resources have emerged sometimes slowly and gently, sometimes suddenly and painfully. We are all aware of the forms in which we have experience them in our own life and we are becoming more and more aware of the ways in which they affect others today. Industrialization, improvement of living standards and population growth are leading to rapidly increasing energy consumption in developing countries as well as Pakistan. Pakistan’s economy run largely on fossil fuels (coal, natural gas and oil). If energy problem has arisen in fairly static Pakistan, it might have been possible to solve it in time by reducing the amount of energy used and by gradually substituting new energy sources for oil. Oil demand behavior is more complex. Oil products can be rationed or domestic energy production can affect oil demand. The nature of energy problem is manifold, how we exploit or conserve the resources available to us today, how vigorously we develop new technologies and how carefully we contain their potentials for environmental damage, all determines the range of opportunities left to future generation. The solution is then to develop an energy system that has no or minimum environmental, economic and societal impacts, which we refer to as “green energy”. In principle energy system that has reduced or minimal adverse impact might be considered as “greener” energy. The definition of green energy implies that green energy as a long-term objective will provide an important attribute for sustainable development. This is because attaining sustainable development requires the use of energy resources and technologies that do not have adverse environmental, economic and social impacts. Clearly single energy source such as fossil fuels are finite and thus lack the characteristic needed for sustainability while others such as renewable energy sources are sustainable over relatively long term. Pakistan is a country with a large population and rapidly growing economy. It has huge energy needs. The country is historically a net importer of energy and confronting serious electricity shortages. With the upward spiral of international fossil fuel prices it’s high time to initiate a sustainable long term transition towards the indigenous, clean and abundant resource of green energy. The considerable potential of this rich resource is not harnessed properly and it is yet to tap. Most of the renewable energy in Pakistan comes from hydroelectricity in the past. The two other potentially strong renewable resources regarding Pakistan are solar and wind.