Renewable energy: only way to survive

Renewable energy: only way to survive

Azhar Bukhari

Summer has brought terrible news regarding energy availability and access to ordinary Pakistanis. While most Pakistanis have been aware for a while that their country faces long term energy shortages, they had not expected the problem to be as acute and severe as it demonstrated itself to be this summer.
There is a severe energy shortage in Pakistan, particularly in the urban areas, and most parts of the country are experiencing heavy load sheddings, i.e. periods with no electric power, designed to distribute load and conserve energy. Karachi, the major port city and industrial hub, is experiencing nearly 110 degree weather with 10-12 hours of load shedding a day in some parts.
The situation has turned bleak, and even the more skeptical are re-assessing their opinion on renewable, distributed, and localized energy generation for Pakistan major population centers.
When it comes to Pakistan, an entire gambit of renewable energy sources can be considered plausible. Solar (PV and concentrator PV/thermal) and (onshore-off-shore) wind appear to make most sense, primarily given the geography and climatic conditions as well as the maturity of the technology worldwide, but biofuels, coal-to-gas and coal to-liquid fuels, biowaste to syn-gas, tydal power and small hydro are all valid technologies to be researched and looked into. The biggest impediments, of course, remain rather similar to many other developing countries: lack of technological resources, lack of government incentives and support, mistrust of the financial sector for long term financing, inadequate infrastructure. It is no wonder that even when utility industry was deregulated, the only thing the population learned about the process was how contracts were awarded to foreign firms without proper financial due diligence.
India is fast gaining serious experience in renewable energy production not only for domestic consumption but also to become an international player in this area. India today has an installed capacity of over 6.27 GW of wind power.
As renewable energy technologies are getting better traction in the world, prices per KwH are coming down. Wind energy is now almost competitive with natural gas derived electricity, and solar is not that far behind as well. Germany and Spain have made huge inroads in both these sectors. But pakistan will be left behind if it doesn’t quickly start climbing the experience curve.
Technologies for renewable energy industry, from wind turbines to solar panels to power electronics and enzymes for cellulosic biofuel synthesis are being researched and implemented at pilot scale in countries whose problems are not too dissimilar to ours. While renewables will not provide the full answer to Pakistan’s energy crisis in the short term, a strong and committed push will set the right foot forward for the country’s future.
There are certainly individuals and organizations, researchers, policy-analysts, and entrepreneurs that are very interested in participating in the energy future of Pakistan. But the government will need to systematically remove blockages that have kept the real geniuses away from this industry. Financing/investing, funding, tax/rebate incentives, infrastructure upgrade, and energy buy-back contracts from independent energy providers on the national grid are among some of the things that government can do to promote energy entrepreneurship.
The wind energy projects in Pakistan have been run into snags and delays for more than a year following the government’s apathy in providing the assured subsidies to the higher tariff against the conventional gas/oil-fired power plants, a root cause hampering physical progress.
Wind power projects of total 100 mw capacity are being established, on BOOT (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) basis, at Keti Bandar and Gharo in Sindh.
Pakistan has recently indicated its commitment to renewable energy sources, but realising these in practice could still be a long way off.
Pakistan is blessed with an abundance of renewable energy potential, but so far this remains unharnessed except for a few large hydroelectric projects.
The country, historically an energy importer, is facing serious energy shortages while global fossil fuel prices continue their upward spiral. The effects on the economy are marked: interruptions in energy supply to industry, for instance, have hit the country’s exports hard.
Many now believe that Pakistan needs to initiate a transition towards greater use of renewable energy as an indigenous, clean and abundant resource.